RAWCS Project 27-2011-12, Installation of Medical Imaging Machines & training of personnel, Worldwide – Peter Koens
A very significant RAWCS RAOAF Project was the project sponsored by the Rotary Club of Castle Hill and managed by PP Ron Marcus. The Rotary Club of Castle Hill in partnership with Phillips Australia dismantled decommissioned Cardiac Catheterization Labs in hospitals in Australia and shipped and reinstalled these units in developing nations throughout the world.
RAWCS Northern Region RARE was approached by PP Ron Marcus seeking assistance with the dismantling, storage and shipping of a decommissioned Cardiac Catheterization Lab located in the Wesley Hospital in Brisbane. A date was set on a Saturday for volunteers to fly in from Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide for the dismantling of the unit. These volunteers along with local volunteers were able to complete the dismantling and storage of the unit along with the miles of cabling that go with the unit in the one day.
This unit was bound for Mongolia to replace an older analogue unit that was installed by the same team a number of years beforehand. While waiting for preparations to be completed in Mongolia, the unit was stored in the Northern Region RARE facility at Durack.
When preparations were completed in Mongolia, shipping arrangements were made and the same volunteers from Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide along with local volunteers attended the RARE facility in Durack to pack the unit into the container.
This replacement unit was successfully installed in Mongolia by a team of volunteers, including technicians from Phillips Australia, lead by PP Ron Marcus and Peter Koens.
One point of interest is that during both the dismantling of the unit and the packing of the unit into the shipping container, volunteers representing four of the five RAWCS Regions in Australia were in attendance.