PCMC School Steps Forward To Help Needy People Amid COVID-19, Launches Helpline Service
Mihir Shete
Pimpri, 28th May 2021: Jnana Prabodhini Navnagar Vidyalaya (JPNV), one of the prominent schools in the Pimpri area, has come forward with a helpline service called ‘Seva Vahini’ for COVID-19 positive patients and anyone else who needs help.
The school has been helping the needy with telemedicine consultation as well as providing food tiffins, home sanitization, and other medical help. They had also arranged a blood donation camp where they managed to collect 334 blood bags.
The school has also set up a facility for COVID-19 RTPCR and Rapid Antigen Test in their premises.
Till now, they have been able to reach more than 750 needy citizens and COVID-19 patients. They have a team of doctors that consults fearful patients and their relatives over the phone. After consultation with the doctors, the patients get medicines delivered to their homes if needed by JPNV volunteers at a nominal cost.
Volunteer Amol Deshpande told us about an experience that shows us the need for such initiatives. “We received a call a few days ago from Marunji village. The person had got information about our service from somewhere and called us. The man on the phone said that his 22-year-old son had a fever and cough for the last five days and was being treated by a local doctor but did not see any significant improvement in his health. The call went to Dr Bageshri and she started consulting the person over the phone. When asked about the oxygen level, the father of the patient said that he did not know. When asked to measure oxygen levels, he said he could not afford an oximeter. Then, he went to the local doctor and measured his son’s oxygen level. It was 88 and dipping down further. As the patient’s oxygen level was declining, our medical coordinator Dr Megha advised him to be admitted to the hospital immediately. He was admitted to the Jumbo Covid Center in Pune. However, by the time he reached the centre, his oxygen level had dropped to 60. Now, he needed to be put on a ventilator which he got in due course,” Deshpande said.
Sayali Patki, who works as a medical coordinator, said, “When we started the helpline service, we were not sure what the response would be, what exactly we would have to do, but everyone had decided that we would do our job well. Everyone was determined to help the patients since the situation was serious.”
“In April, we felt that we should do something to give back to society. During a meeting of the organizing committee, it was decided that we should start such a helpline service initiative. Today, it has been almost a month and I am satisfied that we were able to help. As the number of COVID-19 patients has come down, so has the number of incoming calls. Now, we want to do some projects for the overall health of the people to increase immunity. We are currently planning for the same,” informed Seva Vahini Chief Coordinator Anagha Deshpande.
Contact: To reach out to JPNV Seva Vahini, you can call on 8390458155.
