News Letter 2021

Background

There is a huge burden of Type 1 diabetes in children as young as one-year-olds in and around Coimbatore districts. Such children need insulin injections for life-long four times a day with finger-prick glucose monitoring 3-4 times per day. Small errors in insulin storage (lack of fridge at home) or omission of insulins for one day can put children lives at risk with diabetic coma. Our dream is to ensure that no single poor child with Type diabetes should suffer or die for want of best treatment with insulins or modern technologies like insulin pumps. There are 36 children from underprivileged categories, aged 2-12 years at CMCH (Coimbatore Medical College Hospital) with difficult to control Type 1 diabetes, with a significant number of such children needing recurrent hospital admissions. Our aim is to support all 36 children to ensure a normal healthy life through a joint initiative from Idhayangal Charitable Trust and Paediatric Department of CMCH.

Aim of Project Kovai Thulir

To support 36 children with insulin needing Type 1 diabetes from underprivileged strata at CMCH for a pilot period of one year, which ensures reduction in hospitalisations and complications along with improvements in quality of life.

Methods

36 children have been identified from the database of CMCH Paediatric department who are in dire need of help.

We are supporting with the following:

36 free glucometers to check blood glucose levels Glucose monitoring strips for one year (25 strips per child/ month) 10 fridges for insulin storage for 10 most deserving children 5 children with major recurrent hospital admissions supplied with high quality insulin analogues medicines in pen fill cartridges Insulin needles (4mm) for those 5 children on insulin pens (15 needles/ month/ child)

Insulin analogues

Rs 3000 per month per child, Rs 15,000 per month for 5 children and Rs 1,80,000 for one year for 5 children

BD Ultra fine needles (4 mm)

Rs 14 per needle, 15 needles per month for one child, Rs 210 per month for a child, Rs 12,600 for 5 children for one year

Glucometers

Rs 1300 per glucometer (best in class with 800 memories, would be helpful to cross check during follow up visits), 36 glucometers costs Rs 46,800

Glucose measuring strips

Rs 14 per strip, one child needs 25 strips per month, for 36 children for 12 months, cost is Rs 1,51,200

Refrigerator

Rs 9000 per child inclusive of delivery charges, Rs 90,000 for 10 families

TOTAL COST: Rs 4,80,600

If interested kindly contact
Dr Krishnan Swaminathan
Ph: 9042858882 or 8526421150
Email: snehasswaminathan@gmail.com
Cheque in favour of ˜Idhayangal CHARITABLE TRUST OR
Bank Details
Idhayangal CHARITABLE TRUST
Indian Bank, KMCH Goldwins Branch, Avinashi Road, Coimbatore 641 014.
Account number: 6517087788
IFSC Code: IDIB000K169

THANKS IS A SAMLL WORD FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT

On behalf of Idhayangal Charitable Trust
Dr. Krishnan Swaminathan
Ph: 8526421150 or 9042858882

ICT NEWS LETTER JUNE-JULY 2021

July, 2021

Warm Regards from the desk of Idhayangal Charitable Trust. We are so grateful and humbled by all your support during the most difficult times. This has enthused us to work harder to help more underprivileged children across India over the last couple of months. Idhayangal now has extended its support to Tamilnadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab and Gujarat. Our dream is to ensure that no single poor child in India should suffer for want of best treatment to lead a happy healthy life. The updates for this edition are the following

It is mightily hard to be in the shoes of a child going through 15 admissions with diabetic coma over the last 2 years, some of the admissions being a near death experience and still gracious to have the brightest smile in the world! This is none other than Swathi (above photo), the attitude of this child and their family, their absolute graciousness in adversity needs to be seen to be believed! With no fridge at home, no money to buy the best insulins, poor awareness of diabetes, this child battled a war with Type 1 diabetes till such time God was kind to get her introduced to Idhayangal Charitable Trust. With all your support, prayers and blessings, Swathi is now doing extremely well, the discipline she has shown with her injections, glucose monitoring and follow up will make a lot of grown-ups ashamed! She has earned an insulin pump and she is currently doing extremely well with glucoses between 100-180 mgs/dl. Swathi and their family convey their heartfelt thanks to Idhayangal donors.

PROJECT KOVAI THULIR UPDATES

April, 2021

Idhayangal is extremely happy to update on PROJECT KOVAI THULIR, an initiative to support all children with Type 1 diabetes attending Coimbatore Medical College Hospital (GH) Pediatric Department. In association with the Dean, HOD Pediatrics Dr Bhooma and an excellent set of post-graduates led by Dr Nidharshana, this project has been life changing for 40 children with Type 1 diabetes coming from the poorest of backgrounds. We have found a 4% reduction in HbA1c, the three month average, nil admissions with diabetic coma and an excellent improvement in quality of life. We wish to thank all our donors, including Roots India, VGS Foundation, USA & Wintac Limited India for the support.

PROJECT SOUNDHARYA: A SMALL START

March, 2021

It is mightily hard to be in the shoes of a child going through 15 admissions with diabetic coma over the last 2 years, some of the admissions being a near death experience and still gracious to have the brightest smile in the world! This is none other than Swathi (above photo), the attitude of this child and their family, their absolute graciousness in adversity needs to be seen to be believed! With no fridge at home, no money to buy the best insulins, poor awareness of diabetes, this child battled a war with Type 1 diabetes till such time God was kind to get her introduced to Idhayangal Charitable Trust. With all your support, prayers and blessings, Swathi is now doing extremely well, the discipline she has shown with her injections, glucose monitoring and follow up will make a lot of grown-ups ashamed! She has earned an insulin pump and she is currently doing extremely well with glucoses between 100-180 mgs/dl. Swathi and their family convey their heartfelt thanks to Idhayangal donors.

MARCH APRIL 2021 NEWSLETTER

March, 2021

Warm Regards from the desk of Idhayangal Charitable Trust. It gives immense pleasure to be in touch with you once again with our newsletter for March April 2021. There have been great developments both individually as well as in ICT's outreach to Tier 2/3 towns and villages that would directly transform hundreds of lives of underprivileged children with Type 1 diabetes. Once again, this has been a difficult two months with COVID-19 rearing its dangerous head, however this has not dented the spirits of Idhayangal donors, the Team and the children. We are extremely touched and proud of all your support that makes us continue our work with great vigour irrespective of anything that nature throws at us. Here are some of the heart-warming updates for the last 2 months

We met Malarvizhi for the first time at Coimbatore GH with her dad three months ago. She was emaciated with significant weight loss and a random glucose of 705 mgs/dl on assessment. Her 3-month average, not surprisingly was more than 12 % and at this rate, this child would definitely end up with kidney failure and dialysis within a few years. Dad was a daily wage labourer trying to make ends meet with 2 daughters and a difficult economic situation courtesy Covid. What Malarvizhi's family lacked in money was more than compensated by their fighting spirit, smartness and a great attitude. She was fast-tracked to our Insulin pump programme and within 2 weeks her glucoses were well under control with more than 90 % of values between 100-200 mgs/dl. Malarvizhi now is the leader for all the 40 children from PROJECT KOVAI THULIR from Coimbatore GH. She recently had her birthday and it was a heart-warming surprise to see this innocent beautiful child with her sister come to my room to present a Lord Ganesha artwork that Malarvizhi had done herself as a gift to the Idhayangal Team and donors. There are still a few things that mere money cannot buy in this world, once such thing is the spontaneous affection of children like Malarvizhi. This present was so priceless that Lord Ganesha is now adorning the walls of my cabin as a reminder as to why we need to do more for thousands of deserving children like Malarvizhi across India.

MOTHER'S TEARS OF JOY

February, 2021

Dharani is a bright 13-year-old girl with Type 1 diabetes for the past 6 years. Poverty, lack of help and poor insulin management had wrecked this child's life till now with glucoses of 500 mgs/dl and 3-month average of 15%. Dharani would be crying all the time, unable to get up from bed due to severe muscle weakness, lost schooling for 2 years and parents were told to give up by convincing them that nothing more could be done and every day is a bonus! It is funny how humans and doctors often play God! However, God had other plans and introduced Dharani to Idhayangal through another patient of ours. A brief admission followed by diabetes education and insulin pump therapy ( after a difficult month with four times a day insulins) dramatically changed Dharani's health and mind. Above is a photo of Dharani looking so much brighter and happy with current glucoses of 100-180 mgs/dl. Mother was in uncontrollable sobs during her recent clinic visit and for the first time these were tears of joy as Dharani had started to wake up at 6 am in the morning to go for a brisk walk on her own after 6 long years. Mother's words were “ Doctor, I can go peacefully out of this world now knowing that Dharani is back to her normal self, just seeing my child walk happily for the first time in years has brought me happiness that is difficult to express! How such things matter to a mother! Family and ICT Team convey their heart-felt thanks to all our donors and well-wishers for able to make such a difference to every single underprivileged child with Type 1 diabetes.

ICT Outreach to Tier 2/ 3 areas

February, 2021

Idhayangal Charitable Trust is keen to spread our work to other parts of India where there are so many deserving children struggling with Type 1 diabetes. We have made a start in Tanjore and Dindigul districts by linking up with like-minded collegaues in those areas with a significant burden of underpriviliged children with Type 1 diabetes. Above are photos with Dr Cesar's team in Tanjore and Dr Muralidharan's team at Dindigul. Currently around 10 most deserving children are receiving insulin analogues, glucometers, glucose strips and 6 children have been started on insulin pumps, all courtesy of Idhayangal donors contributions. We convey our heartfelt thanks to Dr Cesar & Dr Muralidharan to extend all their support to ICT. We are keen to give a helping hand to Governmental Institutions in Tanjore, Dindigul, Udumalaipet, Cuddalore to name a few in addition to our work at Coimbatore GH. We are also keen to expand in Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab once the COVID situation settles as we are getting plenty of requests for support in these States. Once again, on behalf of all our children across India, we sincerely thank all of you for your thoughts, generosity and kindness inspite of the most difficult situation Mother Nature has thrown at us. We cannot even dream of the path we have come till now without your support. Your strength and faith makes us believe that we can transform the lives of every single underpriviliged child with Type 1 diabetes in India in a positive way.

Yours sincerely

Dr. Krishnan Swaminathan MD PhD FRCP
Mnagaing Trustee, Idhayangal Charitable Trust
Ph: 9042858882 / 8526421150
Email: snehasswaminathan@gmail.com

January- February 2021 Newsletter

January, 2021

Warm Regards from the desk of Idhayangal Charitable Trust. We have been able to tide the crisis of 2020 with the sheer generosity and kindness of all our donors. We have made a great start to 2021 with some heart-warming projects that are consistent with the core vision of Idhayangal: No single child with Type 1 diabetes from deserving underprivileged families should suffer for want of a helping hand to lead a normal healthy life.

In this edition of Jan-Feb 2021 newsletter, we have the following:

The heart-warming story of Ramya: Idhayangal's dream, Project Kovai Thulir, Project Vanavil updates

Ramya's story: Idhayangal's dream

January, 2021

Ramya comes from a very poor family near Madukkarai on the outskirts of Coimbatore. She has Type 1 diabetes for the past 4 years and has had major life-threatening admissions with diabetic coma at Coimbatore GH, the last one on 5th Feb 2021 which nearly ended her life. Both parents are labourers, a small thatched roof house, no electricity, no fridges, no glucometers, insulins in vials & syringes and poor insight into diabetes. What more can stack up against this poor child. However, this girl had a few strengths, a steely resolve and character, an inherent smartness, a superb grandmother who adored her grand-daughter and Idhayangal Team's input. Once we came to know of this girl, we wanted to do everything to level the playing field. A village visit, a small fridge to store insulins at a nearby shop (we believe the potency of insulin was a factor for the recurrent admissions due to storage issues), best insulins in penfill cartridges, diabetes education for her and the entire village, a brand-new best glucometer, unrestricted glucose testing strips and positivity has completely transformed this child within 2 weeks. Her glucoses which were 500 mgs/dl is settling down to 200 mgs/dl, gained weight and feeling much happier. Early days yet we are quietly confident that Ramya should do well and lead a happy healthy life. Thanks to all the donors and well-wishers for making this start possible to realise our core dream that we are not going to allow a single poor child suffer for want of best treatment that would change their lives positively. Ramya with her grandmother in front of their house, A happy family with a fridge to store insulins Entire village children getting educated to help Ramya, the comradeship needs to be seen to be believed. Ramya being trained with pen fill cartridges

PROJECT KOVAI THULIR

January, 2021

Idhayangal Charitable Trust has been lucky to have been given the opportunity to help about 36 children with Type 1 diabetes from underprivileged families. Nearly all children have poor glucose control with all the paraphernalia that goes with such families, rank poverty, huge stress of multiple daily injections, no fridges, no glucometers, recurrent major hospital admissions with glucoses> 500 mgs/dl and a stoic acceptance of fate that their child will die at some point of time and there is nothing that can be done about this. ICT wanted to change this completely to all these deserving children. For some unexplained reasons, we find such underprivileged children very smart, bright, quickly understand the nature of Type 1 diabetes once time is spent on education, very well versed with technology and a desire to get better. It was a humbling moment to see all the children together as well as individually to identify core issues that needed to be corrected. We wish to thank the Paediatric department of Coimbatore GH, Dean of CMCH and all the post-graduates who gave us the opportunity to be of help. Within a day, all the households received fridges, all children received the best insulins in pen fill cartridges, glucometers, glucose strips and diabetes education. All children are doing well with reduction in glucoses at baseline of nearly 400 mgs/dl to around 200 mgs/dl within 3 weeks. If consistent, this would translate into major reductions in hospital admissions, kidney failure, blindness and death. Photograph with all deserving children, Paediatric Team at Coimbatore GH, Roots India Chairman Shri Ramasamy, a major donor and well-wisher for this project. Photo below shows child receiving insulin pens, Dr Indira representing Wintac Limited and Dr Veerappan Subramaniam from USA, another major donor for this project. Group education for all the children and their families to help understand T1 diabetes better, rapt attention by all children and families. We wish to thank all the stake holders, especially Roots India Chairman Shri Ramasamy and their team, Dr Veerappan Subramaniam (USA), Dr Dhurairaj (USA), Wintac Team, Dr Indira, Drs Thiyagarajamoorthy, Prabhu Niranjan, Shri Prasad Veluchamy (USA), Shri Ramesh, Shri Shanmughasundaram and many more who have been so selfless in funding this project.

PROJECT VANAVIL: ADOPT ONE CHILD FOR A YEAR PROJECT

January, 2021

With the number of children with Type 1 diabetes coming to ICT acutely increasing, we would be extremely grateful for you to spread the message about adopting one child for Rs 3000 per month or 36 K per annum, that would change the lives of these deserving children forever. We are humbled by many donors who have already adopted a child, this helps us to move on the next hundreds of children on the waitlist needing support. Please contact Dr Krishnan Swaminathan on 9042858882 or 8526421150 or email snehasswaminathan@gmail.com if interested, A family occasion, child's birthday, an anniversary may be great occasions to help an underprivileged child with Type 1 diabetes. Many thanks for all your support. As always, we are humbled by all your selfless support. To help around 230 children month on month with the best treatment that such children cannot even dream of is made possible only through all your generosity and goodwill. We thank the Almighty and all of you for making us dream bigger to transform lives of such children forever. Will get back with the March / April newsletter in a couple of months.