Being a responsible Social Welfare Organization, DAY has made a commendable mark during the unprecedented LOCKDOWN phase owing to COVID-19 and committed to do the same in future. DAY had responded quickly and stopped all non essential activities and continued the EMERGENCY SERVICES like Ambulance Service, services under RESPECT & CARE etc. Besides that, we have undertaken several effective initiatives related to Diabetes & COVID-19.
1) SUPPORT SYSTEM OF T1Ds in West Bengal: When providing support to our sponsored T1Ds, it was felt that lot of T1Ds of our state were facing acute crisis of insulin & other supplies during this unprecedented LOCKDOWN, we immediately contacted the West Bengal Commission for Protection of Child Rights (WBCPCR) and proposed them to collaborate for the starting of a Support System for other T1Ds throughout our state. We will remain ever grateful to Hon’ble Chairperson of WBCPCR, Ms Ananya Chakraborti and her team for their prompt action which enabled us to supply insulin and other accessories to the T1Ds of West Bengal till mid of May, when the supplies become normal. We are proud to inform you all that we have provided support to hundreds of T1Ds during this phase.
2) Counseling on Lifestyle & specific Emotional needs for All, especially with Diabetes (LEAD) : Tele counseling on lifestyle, emotional/psychosocial depression, personal/interpersonal problems for everyone, especially for the Person With Diabetes (PWD), was started in association with SEVAC Mental Hospital, during this period and has provided support to hundreds of beneficiaries. Our Diabetes Educators had provided the support related to diabetes while the experts of SEVAC had provided the counseling on psychological issues.
3) Distribution of Mask, Sanitiser, Soap etc among needy people : As per guideline issued by World Health Organisation (WHO) and directives of Govt. of India as well as Govt. of West Bengal, to COMBAT COVID-19 use of mask and washing hands with soap and/or sanitiser frequently is compulsory. Being a social welfare organization, we have distributed Mask, Soap, Sanitiser etc among the under privileged section of Tiljala Police Station area, where our Sachetanata Bhavan is situated.
4) Awareness on COVID-19 through conventional media & social media : It has been observed that the co-morbidities like diabetes, CVD, kidney diseases have chances to increase severity of COVID-19 and we immediately sensitized the conventional media to do awareness program on this and they have responded promptly. Our President Dr Debasis Basu was present in the leading bengali news channel ABP Ananda as a guest in a program dealing with such issues. Other members like Mr Niloy Kumar Sinha, Ms Kalpana Ray, Ms Shryl Salis etc were also present in different media along with other beneficiaries of DAY. A program on scarcity of insulin supply & problem related to dialysis had drawn the attention of Policy Makers and they responded swiftly to take the appropriate measures to address the problem. Taking this opportunity we would like to extend our heartiest THANKS to ALL MEDIA. We had also posted several useful tips / videos related to these issues in our FB page & YouTube Channel.
5) Health Check-Up Camps for Police Personnel: DAY organized several Health check up camps jointly with Champahati Swasthya Mela Welfare Society to express our gratitude to the Frontline Corona Warriors, police personnels. DAY carried out doctor’s consultancy, general health check-up,i.e,pulse, BP, BMI, and RBS test were conducted. Psychological counselling was done to keep their mental health at check which might have been tampered with by the heavy work load in unfavourable situations, sometimes with their very lives at stake. Dietary counselling was done to strengthen the heroes’ immunity to fight against COVID-19.The programmes were held during 6th– 20thMay and 8th – 11th June, 2020, in association with Baruipur Police District for Police Personnel of Headquarter, 17 police Station, SDPO office & Traffic Guards under Baruipur Police District. The Supportive Partner was SEVAC Mental Hospital. The heath camps were held on 6th May at all Headquarter unit of S.P, Baruipur PD with Venue of Headquarter DP office, Baruipur District. 8th May at Baruipur Police Station, Baruipur SDPO office, Baruipur Women Police Station & Baruipur Traffi Guard. 10th May at Narendrapur PS, Sonarpur PS,Sonarpur STG.12th May at Bhangore PS,Kashipur PS,CL,Bhangore,DPS (Crime),Kashipur STG & GhatakPukur STG.14th May at Canning PS,Canning Women PS,SDPO &CL Canning, &Canning STG.16th May at Basanti PS,Jharkhali Costal PS & Basanti STG. 17th May Gosaba PS & Sundarban Coastal PS.18th May at police launch of Sundarbon area 8thJune at Jibantala PS & Ghutiari O.P.10th June at Jaynagar PS,Bakultala PS,CI, Jaynagar,Jaynagar STG.11th June at Kultali PS, Maipith Coastal PS.
All together we had screened 1937 police personnel for general health and depression during this challenging time. 143 (7.38%) police personnel have diabetes and out of them 43 (30.07%) were newly diagnosed during our screening camps. 83 (4.28%) of police personnel were found to be in pre- diabetes stage and are on the risk of having diabetes in near future if corrective lifestyle modification are not done on priority basis. 1140 (58.85%) police personnel are either overweight or obese and are on risk of having metabolic disease like diabetes, high cholesterol and CVD in future. 101 (5.28%) police personnel were underweight and require adequate nutrition to maintain a healthy body weight. Among them 155 (8.1%) of police personnel were found to have depression of varying severity. 115 (6.0%) had mild depression, followed by 25 (1.29%), 8 (0.41%), 7 (0.36%) of them had moderate, moderately severe and severe depression respectively. Police personnel having moderately severe and severe depression requires immediate psychiatrist consultation.
6) Donation to Chief Minister’s Relief Fund : To help the Govt of West Bengal to COMBAT this pandemic, our Executive Committee had decided to donate Rs 30.000/- (Rupees Thirty Thousand) to Chief Minister’s Emergency Relief Fund. The donation cheque shall be handed over soon.