‘It was absolutely excellent!’ Exclaimed Mr. Gopal Krishna as he waved good bye. His black blazer and purple striped tie neatly draped over his forearm as he walked to his car. It was already passed 4pm as I closed the department for the day, but its didn’t matter as, Mr.Gopal Krishna’s honest remark resonated in my ears. I was a milestone, no doubt. A Day to be remembered. The day we had our first volunteer orientation for the I-shine Project.
Venue : St. Martha’s Stroke Rehab centre (physio wing)
Time : 2pm – 3pm
Present : Mr. Jason Furtado (I/C), Ms. Nitasha Noronha (Staff/ coordinator), Ms. Bhavani (Staff), Mr. Manjunath (staff), Sr.Grace (Prison Ministry , Nagpur) , Mr.Gopal Krishna (Stock Broker/Volunteer), Mr. Ranjith (Marine engineer/ Advisory ) , Mr.Chandrashekar (Stroke Survivor/Volunteer), Physiotherapy Interns , NSS students from St.Josephs (6).
The Orientation program was designed to be of a casual discovery circle format, where participants would be relaxed and yet be able to participate in the discussion.
1.A Welcome was extended by Mr. Jason Furtado to all dignitaries present.
2.Introduction of each Participant.
3.Mr. Gopal Krishna Gave a motivational talk entitled – ‘Just a little Push’. The talk was not only inspiring but also surprisingly very down to earth and humorous. I perfect talk, I must say, with anecdotes of why we tend to remember the great-great grandparents of the Gandhis, but not our own!! We remember them because society remembers people who lived (and died) for others!. The Gopal went on to thanks the volunteers to spending their valuable time here rather than what other young people do during their holidays. They were sacrificing their value time for a valuable cause. A cause for which people would thank them in the future. As the cause not only gives a chance to do recreational therapies, but also helps in the awareness of stroke , its prevention , rehab and preparedness of an attack. This is an important key. When a person knows what to do at the time of an attack, he is bound to save a live for which the I-shine shall be responsible. The Talk was extremely inspiring and meaningful.
4. Mr. Chandrashekar (Stroke survivor) shared his experience followed by answering questions from the volunteers. This enables the volunteers to see first hand that young people can also get stroke and how communication problems (speech problems) can arise.
5. Ms. Nitasha gave a brief introduction on what the I-Shine project was all about and how we needed people to help us in three categories (Recreational Therapies, Awareness Campaign & Motivational Services )
a.Recreational Therapies: games that were therapeutically designed to help patient learn coping strategies, Improve Motor and higher functions WITH an element of fun.
b.Awareness campaigns: Would spread the word about stroke using print, Audio visual aids and Arts .
c.Motivational Campaign is being with the patient and helping in therapy and motivating them.
6.A discussion and question answer session followed.
7.The choice of being a part of I-shine was left to them. The students took many brochures to give to their college mates.
8.Volunteer badges were given to already registered volunteers.
9.The meeting ended with a promise to grow and shine!!. The next meeting would be intimated by personal Correspondence.
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today we had mr ian faria come over and give a motivational talk to the patients. initially i felt the patients had this little question mark of what this was about, but saw them opening up as the talk went by. two patients who seemed to b really motivated was mr khan and mr jaganath rao
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