Rotary Outreach Myeloma Project (ROMP)

The Challenge

ROMP is a major multi club Rotary effort led by RC Camberwell. The ROMP multi-year project – this is the second year - builds upon the club’s twenty plus years of engagement with Myeloma Australia (MA) in support of their vision for “a world without myeloma”.

There are circa 18,000 people in Australia living with myeloma – an incurable type of blood cancer. MA is the only myeloma specific organisation offering support specifically to “the myeloma community” – patients carers and medicos. A core, high value and high cost service provided by MA is the creation and maintenance of myeloma support groups that meet regularly in accessible venues throughout Australia.

Seventy per cent of myeloma patients live in capital cities with the balance – 30% - located in country regions many of which are remote and challenging for MA to service. Presently MA support is skewed towards the capitals. The challenge for ROMP – Rotary and MA together – is to creatively address the service imbalance to deliver new support groups in the regions.

The Solution:

The ROMP program has a single aim. Through Rotary Club support, influence and contacts in regional areas to support the work of MA in facilitating the establishment of myeloma support groups in selected Victorian country regions.

The ROMP service delivery model recognises the prohibitive costs of applying the traditional MA model which places a qualified myeloma nurse in each support group meeting. In place of the high cost model ROMP will provide the nurse presence through the application of video conferencing technology.

The ROMP program is low cost and high value. Once support groups are firmly established in the regions with Rotary support the new groups will be sustained by MA. It is reasoned that 8 -10 new groups will redress the support group imbalance. Country patients will not be alone. The sketch map provided illustrates the target zones.

ROMP is now a major project of RC Camberwell Community Service to mark the centenary of Rotary in 2021