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Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Week 1 Photos

Photo Diary for Week 1 ~ Project Anoopam Sanjivani Health Awareness (ASHA)
ATTENTION READERS: After viewing the pictures, please select the pictures that you liked the most and let me know via the comment box located below the posting...Thank You!
A figure presenting the overall objectives Project Anoopam Sanjivani Health Awareness (ASHA)
Volunteers hiking up a hill to provide: (1) educational support, (2) medical  relief,  and (3) social welfare to the villagers of the Satpuda Region.
A general health awareness camp is held for the villagers of the Satpuda Region. Special emphasis is given on the importance of proper, daily hygienic practices, adequate nutrient acquisition via nutrient-rich foods and vitamin supplements, how to properly prepare a meal, and symptoms of some of the common ailments found within the region.  
Guruvarya Param Pujya Sahebji, (the inspiration behind the development of Project ASHA), talking to the village youth about the importance of proper hygienic care and proper food intake.

A general health awareness camp held at a village school.
A general health camp held in an open field near a village. Medical personnel provide direct consultation, assess the villager's condition, provide treatment and medication, and transport seriously ill villagers to district hospitals, (if necessary). All of these services are provided to the villagers free of charge. 
A villager's vital signs are being measured by a physician at a general health camp.
A small boy presenting with pain in his both the umbilical and hypogastric regions of his abdomen is being assessed by a physician at a general health camp that was held at a local village school. 
A small girl with dental caries is being assessed by a dentist at a special dental camp held at one of the villages in the Satpuda Region. The dentist provides antibiotic medications to stop the spread of infection and performs both fillings and root canals on this girl.
An elderly woman's entire oral cavity is being assess by a dentist at a special dental camp.
An elderly man is receiving deep dental cleaning by a dentist at a special dental camp held at one of the villages in the Narmada District of Gujarat, India.
An optician is assessing a middle aged woman's. She is given eye-glasses free of charge.
The villagers of Kevadiya Colony are getting their vision assessed by opticians and related personnel at a special eye camp that was held at a local village school. 
Param Pujya Ashvinji discussing the important implications of not eating a nutrient-rich meal and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) to school-aged boys at a special blood camp held at a local school. P.P. Ashvinji shows the village boys how to assess for IDA by looking for a pallor (pale) tongue.
A medical volunteer, taking a blood sample from a villager at a special blood camp.
Medical personnel taking blood samples from villagers at a special blood camp in order to perform blood chemistry analysis to determine the blood levels of certain micro-nutrients and properly diagnose any relevant nutritional deficiencies.
A medical assistant measuring an elderly man's blood glucose levels at a special blood camp that was held at his local village square.
P.P. Ashvinji talking about the importance of women's health at a special women's health awareness camp held in one of the villages near Kevadiya Colony.
A physician viewing the fetus in the pregnant woman via ultrasound during a special women's health camp held at a local village near Kevadiya Colony.
At a special women's health awareness camp, mother's with infants and toddlers are given nutrient supplements for their children free of charge to help supplement the nutrients that may or may not be acquired through breast milk and diet.
Mothers with infants and toddlers are given baby kits for their children free of charge at special women's health awareness camps.
Project ASHA volunteers are distributing baby kits and blankets to mothers with infants and toddlers at local tribal villages of the Satpuda Region.
A physician discusses the importance of daily hygienic practice to the villagers as a preventative measure against illness and disease at a hygienic camp that is held at a local school.
A Project ASHA volunteer cutting an elderly man's finger nails and discussing the importance of keeping his nails trimmed and clean as a preventative measure against illness and disease.
A Project ASHA volunteer cutting an elderly man's finger nails during a routine medical visit through his village. 
A Project ASHA volunteer discussing the importance of proper hygiene and grooming to the villagers while one of the villagers receives a hair cut and grooming lessons.
Project ASHA volunteers wash the children's hair to remove dirt, dust, and lice during a hygiene camp in a local village near Kevadiya Colony. They also teach the children the importance of cleaning their hair on a regular basis.

Project ASHA volunteers help teach the village children how to properly clean and exfoliate  their hands and feet during a hygiene camp while discussing the importance of maintaining daily cleanly practices.
Project ASHA volunteers help teach the village children how to properly shampoo their hair during a hygiene camp while discussing the necessity of adequate grooming habits in preventing certain illnesses and diseases. 
A small boy combs his hair after being taught how to remove head lice from his hair during a hygiene camp that was held at his village.
Project ASHA volunteer teaches the little girls how to massage hair oil into their scalp and hair, and how to properly comb and braid their hair during a hygiene camp that was held in their village.
The village children are given hygiene kits that provide all of the amenities needed to maintain proper hygienic practice free of charge during a hygiene camp that was held in their local school.
A Project ASHA medical jeep carrying: medication, food grains and cooking oil,  clothing and blankets, footwear, eye-glasses, hygiene kits, baby kits, and educational material is ready to be unloaded and distributed to the villages surrounding Kevadiya Colony free of charge.
The supplies that are to be distributed to the villagers are being unloaded from a Project ASHA medical jeep.
Free medication is provided during all routine visits by Project ASHA's medical van to the adopted tribal villages as well as during special health camps that are held for the villagers on an as needed bases.
Chikanguniya is a prevalent illness in the Satpuda Region and an herbal remedy has been shown to both prevent and cure this illness. Project ASHA volunteers follow a recipe to make an herbal soup that is served to the villagers when it is still hot.
The following herbs and spices are used to make the herbal remedy for Chikanguniya . These herbs are mixed into a pot of boiling water and the organic compounds, natural extracts, and oils from these herbs are allowed to mix together. The herbal soup is then strained to remove the leaves and herbal debris and the liquid based mixture is served hot to the villagers.
A physician under Project ASHA is providing the herbal concoction to a villager who presents with the Chikanguniya illness free of charge.
A volunteer of Project ASHA is distributing blankets to local villagers. 
Volunteers distributing educational materials to school-aged children at a local village school free of charge.
Project ASHA volunteers provide educational materials to school-aged children to produce a spark of motivation and incentive to learn and make education a priority in their lives.
Educational material provided by Project ASHA include: school uniforms, school bags, books, and stationary supplies.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Week 1 Narrative

Brief History of Anoopam Mission and Project Anoopam Sanjivani Health Awareness (ASHA)


Anoopam Mission is a spiritual and voluntary organization, committed to the charitable activities in the fields of Education, Health, Relief, and Social Welfare for the indigent and destitute people of the society. With the divine inspiration of Guruvarya Param Pujya Sahebji, Anoopam Mission initiated an Anoopam Sanjivani Health Awareness Project more commonly referred to as Project ASHA. Anoopam Mission was the first and only non-governmental organization (NGO) to develop an initiative to deal with the healthcare issues of the tribal population of the Satpuda Region of Narmada District, Gujarat, India. Under Project ASHA, Anoopam Mission has currently adopted a total of 30 villages within the Narmada District and has begun to work in the areas of health and hygiene improvement, education, self-employment, as well as integrated and sustainable development within the six years of its inception—since April 13, 2006. Even beyond these 30 adopted villages, Project ASHA has covered more than 132 villages within the Rajpipla Forest Range of the Satpuda Region.


The primary objectives of Project ASHA include the following:

Routine weekly visits of physicians via a mobile medical van/jeep to the tribal villages: Within the villages, the physicians provide both free consultation and free medication for the common illnesses prevalent within the region.




Periodical Health Camps with Medical Specialists: These health camps are organized with the help of physicians from various medical specialties. Within these medical camps free consultation, free medication, and preventive health education are provided to the patients within the local region. If the patient is in need of further, more advanced treatment, then free transportation is provided to a nearby city hospital.


Routine Health Awareness Camps: These camps are designed to teach the importance of personal grooming including cleaning and cutting hair, cutting finger and toe nails, and cleaning both hands and feet. Also these camps promote hygiene and health awareness, anemia prevention, child birth awareness, and cancer awareness through presentations and group discussions.


Periodical Healthcare Camps: These camps offer various services to the villagers by providing blood hemoglobin (HB) count check-up camps, diabetes awareness and detection camps, eye camps, ENT camps, dental camps, polio and orthopedic camps, and lastly each villager’s blood group is determined and blood group identification cards are provided to the villagers.



Free Distribution of Medication: The physicians working under Anoopam Mission provide the following medications to the villagers on a need based case: pediatric drops, iron tonic for children and iron folic capsules for adults, vitamin A supplements, vitamin B12 injections, antihelminthic medication, antimalarial and chikungunya medication and treatment, and primary treatment for skin disease via topical ointments and creams. The following table (Table 1) includes medications that are provided to the villagers as needed: