IDEOLOGICAL ROOTS:
The Stirring within: The collective aspiration of team Kshmata to improve the health standards of rural and poor families and be one of a kind in its field is what set the wheels of Aarogya 2017 in motion. Through a combination of compassion, hard work and team effort, team Kshamta broadened its horizons where it could become an instrument in real development of the society in the field of health care.
LOCATION AND DATE: Aarogya 0’17 was conducted in the heart of the city of Mumbai. Where children are blessed with the gift of liveliness, inhumane circumstances like poverty often deprive them of living life to the fullest due to lack of health care. Thus Aarogya took place on the 18th of March. 2017 at St. Xavier School to provide a free health check up to nearly 1300 people, primarily children.
Though poverty and socio-economic backwardness manifests itself in various forms in Mumbai, it touches the heart of Team Kshamta in the deepest of places when it wipes the smile away from the face of child, when it takes the sparkle away from their eyes. This compassion is what compelled the team to put its best foot forward and provide the people of Mumbai, primarily the children of St. Xavier School and the BMC Schools in the vicinity with a healthier life. The knowledge that the services offered by the team will be going in the most deserving hands is what propelled the team in the direction of a health camp to selflessly extend our hand of help to whom so ever who needs it.
PROGRAMME DESIGN AND DEVELOPEMENT
After two months of constant planning and obstinate effort put forth by the team , Aarogya 0’17 took shape with the following being its core elements :
• Health camp : entailing a detailed health check up
• Distribution of supplements: customized according to specifications.
Aarogya 0’17 underwent many stages to materialize as a flagship event of Kshamta. The journey was a mixture of various highs and lows, accomplishments and setbacks, each step taking us forward in the direction of bringing many little souls into awareness. Once the seed of making Aarogya a larger than life event was sowed, the team searched for a most deserving place to fix its roots into. After knowing about the several schools that flocculated the suburb of Vile Parle which housed umpteen underprivileged kids, the location was aptly decided to conduct a full fledged programme to serve the localities to the best of our abilities.
In order to do so, the team branched out and conducted publicity drives in various places of Mumbai like Nehru Nagar, Christian Wadi etc. This resulted in a footfall of 1300 people. The team further moved on to approaching doctors in the field of ophthalmology, general practice, dermatology, dentistry and others, technicians, clinics to join us in this charitable deed. After an uncompromising team work, a team of doctors was assembled, the seeds of effort and hard work that were sowed were ready to be reaped, Aarogya took place on the 18th of March in Vile Parle.
THE ACTIVITIES IN AAROGYA 2017
After thorough examination and discussion, the following agenda was decided upon:
The event was primarily divided into two aspects:
THE HEALTH CAMP: The health camp was conducted from 9 a.m to 6:30p.m. with a panel of nearly twenty doctors complementing us. The health camp was further organized in the following ways to serve a total of approximately 1000 – 1500 heads :
• Registration desk: This desk was handled by a team of 6-7 people for registering the people and making a note of their previous medical history and jotting down their symptoms and complaints.
• Body Mass Index (BMI) station: Being the basis of many tests, the BMI of the people was first calculated. First the height then the weight was measured and thus using the technological advances, bmi was calculated on the spot.
• Ophthalmic station: The people were provided with a basic eye check up to begin with. On diagnosing further conditions, they were checked for specific conditions.Thus an eye check-up was a must where in the people were given a thorough examination by the respective physician.
• Pulmonary function test (PFT) station: This test done was conducted primarily for adults and for people who indulged in smoking or chewing tobacco. This was done to determine the lung capacity of the people and accordingly provide them with medication
• Dentalstation: A mandatory requirement in any health check-up, a panel of dentist accompanying us heeded to the patients of all age to give them a complete dental examination and make them aware of the basic hygiene standards to be followed.
• Bone Mineral Density (BMD): As a majority of the patients were children, and improper diet predominated their lives, a bone mineral density test was made available to them to check for any particular weakness.
• Blood test : As lack of fundamental health care prevailed in the target audience, a lot of pale hands and eyes presented itself , hence the following tests were provided per blood sample :
• Physiotherapy: A lot of the people were recorded to have weakness and joint pain due to improper diet, hence they were checked for their mobility by the physiotherapists accompanying us.
• Skin : As unhygienic conditions plague the existence of people , a dermatologist checked the people for any severe which the people could be infected with.
• General physician: A common symptom among people of various age groups was stomach ache due to unsuitable drinking water and also itching on the skin. To cater to this complaint, a general physician was on board with us.
DISTRIBUTION STATION: The second primary aspect was the distribution drive. Taking into account the affordability of today’s lifestyle, Team kshamta also provided each of its patients with an array of supplements for them to carry home. These supplements were catered specifically to the needs of each person and included those of calcium, iron, folic acid, ointments for skin , analgesics etc.
As the location of the event was aschool, the majority of the population was kids, the team further interacted with them by treating them with their favourite snacks!
FEEDBACK FROM THE TEAM
The team believes that the event set new standards for Kshamta, the social responsibility forum of SHOBABEN PRATAPBHAI PATEL SCHOOL OF PHARMACY AND TECHNOLOGY. It was a successful event where in the team reaped the fruits of its own hard work, the sweetest of all being the unparalleled sense of satisfaction. This truly was a milestone event which broadened the horizons of Kshamta to foster and incorporate many more such events in the coming age and time. Kshamta considers this entirely as a group effort and not an individual task.
