November 2021
Infection Control Awareness Program at SN Kolkata
Infection Prevention and Control is one of the most important issues in the health care setting at present. To spread awareness about this important issue, a novel Infection Control Awareness Program (ICAP) was conducted at the Sankara Nethralaya Kolkata centers of SNK, Mukundpur and Rajarhat from 8th to 13th November 2021.
ICAP consisted of interesting talks on different topics like Hand hygiene, Prevention of Needle stick injury, Use of PPE, Biomedical waste Management and Hospital disinfection and cleaning, along with demonstrations and online quiz, which was an extraordinary success.
The huge participation by the hospital employees in the Q & A sessions, quiz, poster and slogan competitions made the program more so exciting.
We thank everyone involved for their invaluable contributions to the success of this ICAP 2021 at SNK.
Sankara Nethralaya’s Newark Delaware Chapter is a grand success.
For 2 weekends in September, the Sankara Nethralaya name resonated across the Delaware Indian population. Sankara Nethralaya Trustees Piram Manickavasagam and Ravi Maraka worked hand in hand with Smt. Indhumadhi Gopalakrishnan, artistic director of Salangai School of Performing arts and hosted this grand kickoff event for Sankara Nethralaya Delaware Chapter.
It was a unique and bold move by Salangai School of Performing arts to have their annual event as a virtual event. 75 performers participated in this event which had a reach of more than 3000 people on Facebook and helped to raise significant donations.
Sankara Nethralaya President Emeritus S.V Acharya addressed the audience before the Bharathanatyam program and noted about Sankara Nethralaya fundraiser events, how they leveraged mobile eye surgical units and thanked Salangai School of Performing arts students and Guru. He thanked Indhumadhi Gopalakrishnan for hosting the event for a noble cause.
Right after the address magic behind the classical art form began to unfold one after the other. It was a treat to watch the kids in traditional Indian classical dance costumes perform for vibrant and beautiful choreography. It is also noteworthy to mention some of the performers were first timers and they have been learning the dance only through virtual sessions and with just a couple of in person practice sessions the kids were able to perform in this grand event.
Senior students Adithi Jonnagadla, Praharshitha Nagraj, Pooja Guduguntala and Sreenidhi Das gave a solo performance. Priya Jeyakumar, past student of Salangai School who completed her arrangetram in 2019 also gave a solo performance in this event. Their passion, hard work and discipline in learning the classical dance for several years showed up in their performances.
Final day of performance included a dance presentation on Lord Krishna by Guru Indhumadhi Gopalakrishnan and her son and disciple Akshath Piram and Yashwath Piram. This section had 4 songs in three different languages – Telugu, Tamil and Kannada.
First performance of this section stole most people’s hearts in which a 3 year old boy (little Krishna) entered the scene dancing along with his mom with cute moves and mischievous smile. Next performance was for a song Aadithano Ranga which aptly captured the episode of clash between Serpent King Kalinga and Lord Krishna followed by a Varnam depicting Krishna and Sudama friendship and Gajendra Moksham tales. ‘Varnam’ is considered a difficult piece in Bharathanatyam and Akshath Piram performing a Varnam at 10 year old with at most perfection received raving reviews.
Final performance of the event was a riveting dance performance by mother son duo – Guru Indhumadhi Gopalakrishnan and her son Akshath Piram for a Mahabaratha Sabdam. Mahabaratha Sabdam portrayed one of the most iconic scenes, in which Yudhishthira rolls away his possessions, his kingdom, his brothers, and even his own freedom, though Krishna’s protection saves his wife from total humiliation. This is the most intense scene in Mahabaratham and to do justice to this scene is a challenging task. But the duo completely transformed themselves into their characters and gave a powerful performance that sure did touch viewer’s emotions and won their hearts.
The event concluded with a Thank you note in which Salangai School director thanked all participants and their parents, Guru’s Legend Mudurai R Muralidharan, Guru Dr. Ratheesh Babu and Guru Smt. Supriya Ravikumar and all friends and families who supported the event.
President Bala Reddy Indurti, Vice President Moorthy Rekapalli, Secretary Srinivas Ganagoni thanked all the Trustees and Volunteers who are working selflessly to restore vision for indigent patients.
Bala Indurti worked with local trustees Piram Manickavasagam and Ravi Maraka to launch the Newark Delaware Chapter. Thanks are due to Board of Trustees Shankar Setty and Dr. Raj Modi from nearby states for their unconditional support. Thanks are due to Board of Trustee Shyam Appali, Theagarajan for making video and flyers to the event.
Thanks are due to media partners SakshiTV, manaTV, TVAsia, TV5, GNN, US1, and Tori for promoting Sankara Nethralaya activities.
During the pandemic we have conducted the following virtual events to bring the awareness and help the indigent blind patients.
- Nataraja Natyanjali’s 100 days of kuchipudi dance programs
- A Jagannathan Memorial Series of concerts for one year
- Satadina Swararchana semi classical music programs
- Jay Kannan concert
- Natyothsava
Sankara Nethralaya is one of the 4 best ophthalmic institutions and one of the 100 best hospitals in the World per Newsweek. Sankara Nethralaya OM (Ophthalmic Mission) Trust is based in USA and has received the highest rating of four stars by charity navigator for maintaining the transparency for funds donated by donors and how they are utilized towards a noble cause.
To read the article on Great Andhra.com, please click here:- https://www.greatandhra.com/articles/special-articles/sankara-nethralayas-delaware-chapter-is-a-grand-success-116697
Sankara Nethralaya’s Optometrists Achieve Fellowship during the American Academy of Optometry Annual Meeting in Boston, MA
Dr Viswanathan Sivaraman, Ms. Aparna G, Ms. Azfira Hussain, Ms. Ayisha Atiya and Mr. Soumen Sadhu became Fellows of the American Academy of Optometry (FAAO) during Academy 2021 Boston, November 3-6, 2021 in Boston, Massachusetts. They joined a near record-breaking number of 299 new Fellows welcomed into the Academy this year.
Professionals who become Fellows of the Academy must complete a rigorous candidacy process. Candidates submit extensive written work and must also pass an oral examination. A panel of leading optometrists and vision scientists must approve both the written work and oral examination. Approximately ten percent of practicing optometrists are Fellows of the Academy. Fellows of the American Academy of Optometry constantly strive for the highest professional standards.
The American Academy of Optometry annual meetings are recognized as presenting the latest in research and information on patient and vision care.Highlights of the Academy annual meeting included more than 300 hours of continuing education (CE) courses, scientific presentations and an exhibit hall with more than 100 companies exhibiting. More than 6,500 optometrists, vision care professionals, vision scientists and optometry students from around the world attended this prestigious meeting.
About the American Academy of Optometry
The American Academy of Optometry (Academy) enhances excellence in optometric practice by fostering research and disseminating knowledge in vision science through its journal, Optometry and Vision Science, and the continuing education presented at its annual meeting. Fellows of the Academy are committed to the premise that learning is a lifelong obligation of a professional, as is the commitment to expand the profession’s knowledge base through ongoing fellowship and exchange.
The next annual meeting of the Academy will be held October 26-29, 2022in San Diego, California. For more information, visit the website: http://www.aaopt.org
A Smart Move by Sankara Nethralaya and Vision-Aid
Sankara Nethralaya and Vision-Aid, an international NGO that works for the welfare of the visually impaired, are long-term partners, collaborating on various vision rehabilitation programs including running the Vision Enhancement Clinic (VEC) at Sankara Nethralaya’s Shenoy Nagar campus. In partnership with the India-based NGO Trees for Life India, Vision-Aid gave away 10 smartphones to visually impaired patients of the Low Vision Care Clinic (LVC) and VEC at Sankara Nethralaya main campus in Chennai on Oct 28th 2021.
In the first phase of a much larger rollout, ten visually impaired deserving patients of the LVC and the VEC were given smartphones in a small event. The phone distribution event was a closed group event in accordance with the continuing guidelines against the COVID19 pandemic. The event also serves to encourage optometrists and rehabilitation specialists with knowledge of the latest smartphone apps.
Dr. Girish S. Rao, President, Dr. T. S. Surendran, Vice- Chairman, Dr. Pramod Bhende, Director of Vitreo-Retina Services, Dr B Shantha, Senior Consultant – Glaucoma Services, Mr. V. L. Narasimhan and Mr. Vijay Francis from Vision-Aid, India attended the ceremony.
An intensive training schedule jointly conducted by Sankara Nethralaya and Vision-Aid to assist the beneficiaries will follow this event. The training schedule aims at teaching the beneficiaries to use the smart phones and assistive mobile apps efficiently to overcome the daily challenges of the visually challenged.
Though there are many sophisticated mobile apps freely available for modern smartphones, few are aware of their existence and know how to use them to improve their day-to-day living.
Smart phone companies have poured a lot of money into creating very powerful technology in today’s smart phones, such as AI-based apps that help blind users see objects around them, navigation apps that help the visually challenged to navigate safely, and learning apps that connect to a range of digital resources for learning and education. Through such apps, smart phones can become like constant, personal companions, helping to enable, educate and empower the blind and visually impaired to live with independence and dignity.