“Medical Aid Films was like a little plant full of promise. Now it’s a big tree in good heath”

Catherine McCarthy, CEO at Medical Aid Films

The last few weeks have seen some significant changes at Medical Aid Films! We have been incredibly lucky to have Mickey De Lathauwer on our Board of Trustees since the organisation started nearly 15 years ago, and, for the last few years, he has been our Board Chair.

Mickey has provided us with inspiring leadership and a steady hand; he helped the organisation set up and has watched us grow over the years. Mickey is now moving to a Patron role, and we welcome Celia Cattelain as our new Chair of Trustees. We are excited to work with Celia as we celebrate our 15^th anniversary and look towards an ever more digital future.

I thank them both – we would not be where we are today without Mickey, or without the incredible expertise which our Board of Trustees brings. My thanks to them all.

We asked Mickey to share his thoughts on his time on the Board at Medical Aid Films. 

Mickey De Lathauwer, Patron

I have been involved with MAF pretty much from the beginning, as supporter, trustee and in the last few years as chair of the board of trustees. It has been a remarkable journey to say the least!

From the very early days I was attracted by the combination of education and health, but what I found the most appealing was the innovative idea of using the revolution in media and content distribution to get our material out into the world! That has been very exciting, and to think that 15 years ago we started by sending out CDs, and now we track our “traffic” on the various digital distribution platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, Twitter etc.

By the time COVID hit the world, we had grown sufficiently in stature and visibility that it was obvious to many people that our platform was ideal to carry messages on community health in different languages to people across the world.

Michael De Lathauwer

Starting a charity, as Eric, Nathalie and Fiona did, takes vision and guts. MAF was like a little plant full of promise but vulnerable to the vagaries of the outside world. Could we get the right team together? Would people be willing to give us funding? Was there interest in our production material? The little MAF plant grew into a sapling, and the projects kept coming, the funding was never easy but enough people believed in us, so we kept going, and the support for our work was the biggest motivator for all involved. By the time COVID hit the world, we had grown sufficiently in stature and visibility that it was obvious to many people that our platform was ideal to carry messages on community health in different languages to people across the world. Not just in low-income countries, but also in high-income ones. The sapling has now grown into a big tree in good health!

I am very proud to be leaving the charity in as good a shape as it has ever been: a great executive team full of energy and motivation led by our outstanding and dedicated CEO Catherine, a board that is fully engaged and contributing, and the new chair Celia, a long term MAF supporter, fully dedicated to the mission of MAF and to good governance. And last but not least, a passionate group of supporters and funders who continue to make our work possible.