- to help needy people undergo treatment which they would otherwise be unable to afford as such treatments are available only within private medicine
- to spread awareness and provide information and education regarding allergy, its causes and treatment
- to carry out relevant research into the subject of environmental illness
Since 2003, when it became a registered charity, the EMF is proud to have provided direct financial help to over 150 patients.
The EMF members meet regularly to review applications for funding of environmental illness patients who would not be able to afford treatment on their own. There are strict guidelines that they must follow in determining which applications will be approved.
In order to raise greater awareness of the impact of environmental medicine, since 2015, the EMF has co-hosted free informational lectures and helped fund the video recording of these lectures to share with anyone interested in learning more. The field of environmental medicine involves examining such things as the positive and negative effects on our health and wellbeing of the air we breathe, the food we eat and the lifestyle we lead.
Most people are not aware of the amount of time, money and manpower that is required to conduct medical research studies. Most medical studies are completed by universities, funded by huge corporations, such as pharmaceutical companies. At any given time, there are many research projects proposed but they must go through many processes before any of the laboratory work begins. Data must be collected to validate the necessity of the study, looking at both social and clinical value, an independent ethical committee must approve the procedures and statisticians must carefully outline the scientific validity. There must be an independent review, recruitment of fair subjects (patients), informed consent legalities and careful management of the subjects, including respecting the privacy, confidentiality, right to change their minds, monitoring their welfare and addressing adverse reactions. More research in the field of environmental medicine is needed.
I am pleased to say that through the EMF giving me the opportunity to start treatment [at Breakspear Medical], and my improvement over the first year, I was awarded NHS funding from the PCT. I am pleased to say that at the time of writing this letter I still have NHS funding for treatment”
– Your forever grateful, Sarah Mills