Medical Camp for Recovering Addicts
The Sri Sathya Sai Center of Greater Baltimore conducted a medical camp in Park Heights, a neighborhood of Baltimore City, in October 2011. We organized this camp at the request of the I Can’t We Can organization of Baltimore. Having maintained a special relationship with this organization, we have held many medical camps and CPR training programs in the last five years. As always, this camp turned out to be a greatly satisfying experience.
The I Can’t We Can facility houses recovering drug and alcohol addicts, giving them room and board, as well as meals. The residents also receive vocational training so that they can be independent after completing the rehabilitation program and overcoming their addictions.
We started the camp at 10 a.m. by chanting three Omkaars and the Gayatri Mantra. The medical camp director gave a brief welcome note to all the volunteers highlighting the spirit of service as taught by Swami. Our volunteers included two physicians, one dentist, three nurses, one physical therapist, and 13 other non-medical volunteers, including a final-year dental student. Everyone enjoyed serving Swami and worked devotedly until the camp ended at 2 p.m.
Volunteers from different backgrounds, Sai devotees and otherwise, came together to make this camp a huge success. “I really enjoyed helping with the medical camp. It helped to provide people with information that they might not otherwise get. That information can help save lives,” said one volunteer, a Registered Nurse at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Each of the two ninth-grade students, who helped with the registration process, were inspired [to say], “My experience with the medical camp was a great one. It was very humbling seeing what backgrounds people come from. I thoroughly enjoyed helping the participants get registered into the camp. Overall, the medical camp was very good. Helping the needy people made me think of how lucky I am. The most humbling aspect of the camp was the fact that not many of these people had doctors. Overall, it was great experience for me, and I am looking forward to doing it again!” This project fulfilled four of their 20 required community service hours per their school guidelines.
Forty-one registrants attended the medical camp, receiving screenings in height and weight, blood pressure, blood sugar, dental health, and more. We interviewed, evaluated, and advised the registrants regarding their personal health, including topics like modifying their dietary and lifestyle habits, monitoring their existing medical conditions, and receiving the appropriate screenings. We distributed educational materials on stroke symptoms, nutrition, and heart healthy tips through individual nurse-to-patient consultations.
All registrants received information on appropriate health maintenance, including modifying their dietary and lifestyle habits, monitoring their existing medical conditions and receiving the appropriate screenings. Patients who did not have a primary care doctor received resources such as names of agencies providing free or low-cost care. We distributed water, fruits, and breakfast bars to all volunteers and attendees. The medical camp director saw each patient personally and privately at the end of all services to discuss his or her future healthcare plans.
The patients appreciated the services we provided, and some also stated that they learned information of which they were not previously aware. Some promised to take better care of themselves, while others thanked us for the services and asked us to come back. With Swami’s grace, we hope to do another medical camp in the spring of 2012.
Service is the essence of devotion, the best cure for egotism. Consider service as the best spiritual discipline. But do not believe that you can by means of service reform or reshape the world. You may or may not: that does not matter. The real value of service, its most visible result, is that it reforms you reshapes you. Do service as a spiritual discipline; then you will be humble and happy.
~Baba
