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Identifying with the roots: A Monthly Snapshot into Sankara Eye Care Institutions, India’s Community Outreach programs

RE-V WIEVolume 1, Issue 12

October 2011

Trailblazers for September 2011

6143Children screened

at Guntur

Total Surgeries done at Coimbatore 4984

Free spectacles provided

at Guntur730

“Attitude, not aptitude determines altitude.”

Jesse Louis Jackson

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Maximum number of non-

paying surgery:

Highest camp site

productivity:

Highest post-operative

review: Highest field workers'

productivity:

Highest Pediatric Surgery:

Coimbatore

Guntur

Rishikesh

Shimoga

Bangalore

In focus:Wings of Vision - Dr Kalam's visit to Sankara Eye Centre, Coimbatore

Known famously as the missile man

of India; the great visionary, thought

leader and ex-president of India

Dr APJ Abdul Kalam graced Sankara

Eye Centre, Coimbatore with his

august presence on 14th Oct, 2011;

a day which happened to be the eve

of his 80th birthday.

To commemorate the occasion, Sankara Eye Centre, Coimbatore had identified 80

patients selected through the Gift of Vision Program conducted by SCOT-

Coimbatore. These patients were handed over the intraocular lens by Dr Kalam

himself. Dr Kalam interacted with these patients in the foyer of the Operation Room

Complex as they were taken in for surgery.

In the formal ceremony held at the hospital auditorium, Dr Kalam felicitated Dr R. V.

Ramani and Dr Radha Ramani for years of selfless services which they had

rendered to the cause of humanity. This spirit of service has seen Sankara expand

its services all across the country to those who are less fortunate. In his speech Dr

Kalam recalled his first interaction with the Paramacharya who advised him to

“give, give and keep on giving”. “Give your love, give your affection, give your

experience and give your wealth” Dr Kalam said. “Do not expect anything in return.

God will ensure that you receive whatever that is due to you” said Dr. Kalam

affirming that Sankara is exactly doing the same relentlessly in giving the Gift of

Vision in a sincere and silent manner without expecting anything in return.

As he came down from the Auditorium, Dr. A P J was taken once again to the

Operation Theatre and through the glass window; he could see the patients to

whom he had given the Intra Ocular Lenses being operated as 10 of them were on

the Operating tables. He exclaimed “This is the temple, the temple of service”…

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Mr K. Lakshmi Narayanan started his

career with Sankara Eye Hospital,

Coimbatore as a Vision Health Visitor

(VHV) in the year 1999. As a VHV he was

responsible for the district of Villupuram,

Cuddalore and Pondicherry. A dedicated

and sincere worker, he has been

instrumental in developing the north sector

in terms of patients screened and

subsequent surgery.

Since then he has been recognized for his

hard work and promoted to the cadre of

team leader, North Sector. Currecnty he

oversees and monitors Sankara Eye

Hospital, Coimbatore's outreach activities

in the 9 districts of the region north of the

base hospital. The relentless effort of his

team as well as himself has seen the

maximum output from his sector in last few

years.

We congratulate Mr Lakshmi Narayanan

for his sincerity and dedication and wish

him greater success with his work with us

in future.

SCOT- Coimbatore was deeply

touched and inspired by the great

man's simplistic and humble manners.

Being thus inspired they resolve to give

back to the community in their own way

and spread the Gift of Vision as Dr

Kalam himself has stated earlier in one

of the poem from his autography

“Wings of Fire”:

“I am a well in this great land,

Looking at its million of boys and girls

To draw from me

The inexhaustible divinity

And spread his grace everywhere

As does the water drawn from the well”

Staff

Spotlight:

As the famous saying goes

“In prosperity, our friends

know us; in adversity, we

know our friends”. So was

the case with 65 years old

Mr.Ramulu.Manupata from

S i g i r p u d u v i l l a g e o f

Veldurthi Mandalam in

Guntur District. With loss of

vision in the left eye due to

an injury in childhood; he

saw the world through his

right eye. Through one eye

he has been witness to the changing attitude of people with the change of fortune at

his end.

With a major handicapcy crippling his prospect for better employment, Ramulu took

to bamboo stick work and basket weaving. In addition he received Rs 200 per month

as old age pension from the government. Being the father of 3 sons and a daughter,

Ramulu had the support of his sons for livelihood. Ramulu's life hit a new low as

tragedy struck in the form of the death of two of his son at close interval resulting out

of an accident and unknown fever respectively. To add more misery, life dealt him a

severe blow as his wife also passed away after a short time. Dark gloomy clouds of

fate surrounded Ramulu as for the first time in his life he felt handicapped having lost

his 2 strong pillars of support and his life partner. With the tragic deaths in the family

especially of his two earning sons, Ramulu saw a change in attitude of his near and

dear one's as they maintained a distance from him fearing that he might ask them to

help him financially.

With the only skill he had Ramulu resorted to Basket weaving to earn a livelihood for

his family. This along with the old age pension barely saw the family through. His

daughter in law also supplemented the income thus helping the family pull along. His

third son proved to be a vagabond who got in to the habit of taking liquor. He would

often threaten and take out money from Ramulu for his liquor expenditure. Due to

his old age and also low vision, Ramulu's protest would fall on deaf ears.

With his life in shambles and seeing the life of his only living son going astray,

Ramulu decided to take matter in to his own hand. He heard from one of his friend in

the village about the free eye care services provided by Sankara Eye Hospital,

Guntur and decided to come for the local screening camp where he was advised for

surgery. Having his eye operated at Sankara Eye Hospital, Guntur; he has now good

post-operative vision and is again back to normal activities of his life.

When asked how Sankara Has helped him in overcoming his difficulty he said “the

death of my wife and 2 strong sons in a matter of days shook my faith to the core. I

lost confidence and faith on myself. Being the head of the family, when I lost direction

in life my family also became directionless. On top of such misery I saw my only living

son resorting to the bad habits of taking liquor and the evil of alcoholism befall my

household. My loss of sight and confidence encouraged him further to continue his

bad ways and torment all of us. In our hour of adversity none of my relatives or friends

came out to help us. Finally I decided to set things right myself as I came to Sankara

Sankara - A Vision for Life:

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Performance Breakdown: Oct, 2011

A brief overview and analysis on the performance of various units of

Sankara for October, 2011

Performance >>>

Unit Total

Outreach OPD

Non paying

surgeries

Children screened

Number of school screening

Free spectacles provided

Pediatric surgeries

Highest OT (surgeriesin a day)

Anand Bangalore Coimbatore Guntur Krishnakovil Rishikesh Shimoga Silvasa

2854 906 - 0 0 0 103

4169 1122 2424 53 255 22 108

4984 2460 94 02 02 09 225

4423 2179 6143 06 730 15 131

957 503 3194 02 86 - 98

3042 923 350 03 - 01 71

4176 1581 1155 48 29 23 138

886 336 171 01 - 01 42

Unit wise Surgery Segmentation

At the end of each camp, an appreciation

letter (signed by the CEO/CMO) of the unit

with a feedback form known as the

'Cosponsors' Feedback Form' is sent to

the cosponsor. This along with a self-

addressed stamped envelope which they

(cosponsor) are supposed to fill in and

post back to the 'CEO/CMO directly. This

is to help each unit SCOT to get a real time

feedback on the ways camps are

conducted as well as the overall

functioning of the manpower at various

levels. The CEO/CMO can formulate

corrective action / initiate disciplinary

action based on the feedback. This format

has been sent to al l uni ts for

implementation with immediate effect.

Partners' PointThe Sankara Family >>>

The Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) is a trade union registered in

1972. It is an organisation of poor, self-employed women workers. SEWA's main

goals are to organise women workers for full employment. The SEWA movement is

enhanced by its being a sangam or confluence of three movements: the labour

movement, the cooperative movement and the women's movement.

SEWA has been associated with Sankara Eye Hospital, Anand ever since the

hospital started in November 2008. Through the help of SEWA we were able to

make inroads in to Anand, Kheda, Ahmedabad, Vadodara & Panchmahal (Tribal

Areas). Through our worker's effort and SEWA's help, we carry out door to door

survey, generate camp awareness, arrange for camp place and also do post-

operative follow up and review.

We congratulate SEWA and its workers for working with us and helping us in our

effort of eradicating needless and avoidable blindness in the various districts

surrounding Sankara Eye Hospital, Anand.

Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA)

for restoring my vision. At Sankara Eye Hospital, Guntur I was treated with

compassion and warmth which was so alien for me as a man who has only seen

hardship in his life. Having gained good vision after surgery now I am able to take

charge of my life and family fully as my younger son has shown signs of

improvement after getting warning from me. Now I am being visited by relatives and

friend as our household condition has improved. With the new job of my son and my

increased earning capacity, I cannot thank Sankara enough for giving me the vision

not only terms of sight but a vision for life”.

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Outreach Dictionary:Cosponsor Feedback