Roma Health Mediators help doctors, municipalities, and schools to work with Roma in problematic locations. They spread health and sexual awareness, invite people for preventive check-ups and vaccinations, check people’s blood pressure and temperature, help when young mothers run away from the hospitals after childbirth, and help people obtain their health insurance IDs.

They CAN NOT treat the patients, diagnose them, or prescribe medicine. Instead, they create a bridge between medical personnel and communities, especially in the settlement where there are no street numbers etc. They communicate with ‘911’ operators and are capable of a good description of the health condition of the person in need and prevent misuse of the emergency lines.

Work of Roma Health Mediators is evaluated every month.

An average day of Roma Health Mediator in the field:

• In the morning, they report to their Coordinators. Then they pick up invitations for patients from the doctor’s office. They also report the values of blood pressure of the patients they took in the settlement to an appropriate specialist doctor or the same general practitioner. They also might ask doctor for advice- i.e. on how to help their clients request specialized health equipment (for example a bed).
• On their way back to the settlement, they pick up medicine for their clients and hand out the invitations from the doctor. They check the blood pressure of their clients, set up doctors’ appointments, and check with families who are, i.e. expecting their child to get back from the hospital. They might also do rehabilitation exercises with their clients after prior training from the medical professional.
• They go to school to set up a lesson and discussion with students. They consult the teachers to see which families they should visit because of possible health problems (i.e. lice)
• If the case of lice is confirmed, they visit the family and provide the family with a special comb to comb out the lice, or they also assist with combing.
• They do required administrative work (timesheets, etc.) and report to their Coordinator
• In case of emergency at night, they call the ambulance and coordinate and facilitate its arrival in the settlement.