Colleagues, friends and admirers have rallied to support a crowdfunding campaign for Professor Chris Del Mar, an international leader in the evidence-based medicine movement who suffered a devastating spinal injury while surfing in February.
The campaign, titled ‘Help bring Chris home from hospital’, was established by colleagues and says that Del Mar has recently moved into a spinal rehabilitation unit after spending more than three months in intensive care in a Brisbane hospital.
The funds are to arrange home modifications and equipment so that he can return home as soon as possible.
The campaign, created on 20 June, says:
Chris is in the very unusual and unfortunate situation that he is not eligible for the National Disability Insurance Scheme (due to the age cut-off), or any other insurance coverage.
This means that he will not receive any funding for the considerable home modifications which are necessary for him to leave hospital. He will receive limited government assistance for only some of the equipment that he needs.”
Del Mar, Professor of Public Health, Population Health and Evidenced Based Practice at Bond University, is continuing to work from his hospital bed, according to a news report on the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners website.
It says: “His PhD students and postdocs bring their work to his bedside at a Brisbane hospital. And he plans to be back at work next year, aided by a wheelchair and voice- or eye-activated computer.”
The report says that access to funding via the NDIS is restricted to people under the age of 65, whereas Del Mar turned 70 while in the ICU.
• Donate to the crowdfunding campaign here.
