Lakshmi, Sharana’s health worker has planned 3-4 workshops before March this year with groups of women from the villages and slums on Cancer Awareness and the importance of Regular Self Examination of the Breast.
Lakshmi has been working a nurse at the Angalakuppam community centre since over 15 years nowand has gradually taken over the role of the Health Worker of Sharana. She spearheads and is responsible for all health-related actions and programs within the organization.
While she continues to receive almost 6000 patients annually at the Angalakuppam for minor ailments and largely for referral services to other hospitals; do a regular check-up of all the children at the Angalakuppam creche and of all the children at the Gayatri House (centre for street and slum children); organize annual health camps in the village and visit the elderly and the pregnant women at their homes- she would like to move further to create more awareness programs among the women of different communities on health and hygiene. This way she is confident her work will have a more lasting and concrete impact on the communities.
Only 20-40 women will attend each of the planned sessions in order to keep the sessions private and personal when required given the sensitive topic of certain health issues and the silence maintained in most communities around these. She proposes to cover a different topic 3-4 times a year in various programs of Sharana, such as menstruation, personal feminine hygiene at home, hormones, balanced diet, and the importance of general fitness and posture among women.
