TRAUMA CENTRE IS A LASTING LEGACY
Trauma Centre is a lasting legacy
In the aftermath of an atrocity on the scale of the 1998 Omagh bombing, the overwhelming grief of victims and survivors is mixed with anger and a burning desire for justice. That is understandable yet, without exception, the victims of Omagh and their surviving family members have conducted themselves with dignity and with honour in pursuing all avenues to justice and healing, if not retribution.
It would be wrong, therefore, to interpret the obvious differences between the families of some victims and trustees of the Omagh Fund as a case of "biting the hand that feeds". Perspective is needed on all sides, as is a full account of the spending of �6.3 million donations and contributions to the centralised fund set up in the immediate aftermath of the bombing.
Nothing, therefore, can be more helpful than the publication this week of the final report on the Omagh Fund and the full audited account of its expenditures.
From that, it can be seen that the trustees who served voluntarily did so with honour, care, understanding and careful deliberation. In the circumstances in which they found themselves, the trustees could scarcely have done a better job. This community is in their debt for the sensitive decisions they arrived at with the wisdom of Solomon.
Yet the difference remains, particularly over the discretionary decision not to make awards to those who reported that they were "traumatised" by the bomb.
Instead, the Omagh Fund acted decisively to help set up the Omagh Trauma Centre with contributions of �l50,000 per year over a five year term.
In retrospect, most people in this community will see that as a wise decision by the trustees who were hardly equipped, in any case, to gauge the level of individual trauma and the therapeutic or compensatory award it justified.
Indeed, few who live in or near this community, or even are connected with it from afar, were spared the trauma of that horrific event to varying degrees.
It is true that the Omagh Trauma Centre has undertaken a wider brief than simply dealing with the aftermath and effects of that Real IRA atrocity.
As it has commenced its work, it has proffered and bestowed its expertise on others who have suffered the aftermaths of violent trauma. Only last year, it provided invaluable help to the surviving victims of the World Trade Centre atrocity in New York.
That is as it should be. Hardly a person in the North, or in other arenas of conflict, could begrudge such help to others, as and when they need it.
Through its work here in Omagh, across the North and abroad, the Trauma Centre has been evolving as a "model of best practice" in the care of those who have suffered and continue to suffer the trauma of violence.
Those who continue to recover from the Omagh bombing can hardly deny the need for such expertise, delivered with all the solace and dignity which have become the hallmarks of the centre.
Rather than question the decision of the Omagh Fund trustees in this regard, it behoves this community to commend and applaud the establishment of the Omagh Trauma Centre and the Omagh Fund trustees who made it possible.
Particularly for the surviving families of victims and those who must continue to seek personal recovery from that terrible day the Trauma Centre is a lasting monument to them.
Through its good works, it provides a glorious and efficacious legacy for those who were so cruelly robbed of life, as well as all those who were consigned to live with the lasting terror of that dreadful day.
In the aftermath of an atrocity on the scale of the 1998 Omagh bombing, the overwhelming grief of victims and survivors is mixed with anger and a burning desire for justice. That is understandable yet, without exception, the victims of Omagh and their surviving family members have conducted themselves with dignity and with honour in pursuing all avenues to justice and healing, if not retribution.
It would be wrong, therefore, to interpret the obvious differences between the families of some victims and trustees of the Omagh Fund as a case of "biting the hand that feeds". Perspective is needed on all sides, as is a full account of the spending of �6.3 million donations and contributions to the centralised fund set up in the immediate aftermath of the bombing.
Nothing, therefore, can be more helpful than the publication this week of the final report on the Omagh Fund and the full audited account of its expenditures.
From that, it can be seen that the trustees who served voluntarily did so with honour, care, understanding and careful deliberation. In the circumstances in which they found themselves, the trustees could scarcely have done a better job. This community is in their debt for the sensitive decisions they arrived at with the wisdom of Solomon.
Yet the difference remains, particularly over the discretionary decision not to make awards to those who reported that they were "traumatised" by the bomb.
Instead, the Omagh Fund acted decisively to help set up the Omagh Trauma Centre with contributions of �l50,000 per year over a five year term.
In retrospect, most people in this community will see that as a wise decision by the trustees who were hardly equipped, in any case, to gauge the level of individual trauma and the therapeutic or compensatory award it justified.
Indeed, few who live in or near this community, or even are connected with it from afar, were spared the trauma of that horrific event to varying degrees.
It is true that the Omagh Trauma Centre has undertaken a wider brief than simply dealing with the aftermath and effects of that Real IRA atrocity.
As it has commenced its work, it has proffered and bestowed its expertise on others who have suffered the aftermaths of violent trauma. Only last year, it provided invaluable help to the surviving victims of the World Trade Centre atrocity in New York.
That is as it should be. Hardly a person in the North, or in other arenas of conflict, could begrudge such help to others, as and when they need it.
Through its work here in Omagh, across the North and abroad, the Trauma Centre has been evolving as a "model of best practice" in the care of those who have suffered and continue to suffer the trauma of violence.
Those who continue to recover from the Omagh bombing can hardly deny the need for such expertise, delivered with all the solace and dignity which have become the hallmarks of the centre.
Rather than question the decision of the Omagh Fund trustees in this regard, it behoves this community to commend and applaud the establishment of the Omagh Trauma Centre and the Omagh Fund trustees who made it possible.
Particularly for the surviving families of victims and those who must continue to seek personal recovery from that terrible day the Trauma Centre is a lasting monument to them.
Through its good works, it provides a glorious and efficacious legacy for those who were so cruelly robbed of life, as well as all those who were consigned to live with the lasting terror of that dreadful day.
Further Information
Publisher: ULSTER HERALD
Ref: UH/1098
Published Date: 12-Sep-02
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