Partnering to build a world where healthcare is accessible to all and prevention of chronic diseases is the primary goal.
We are two friends who met in Tampa, FL over Indian food and started to discuss how we could make rural India better! We realized we shared a passion for providing healthcare to the underprivileged given our backgrounds of cardiology, nursing, and international volunteer experience.
After that night, we decided we were going to dedicate many other nights towards creating a traveling medical camp devoted to serving rural India. Less than three months later, we were ready to launch in four separate locations throughout the country! This would not be possible without the motivation and inspiration from the villagers and the endless encouragement and support from our family, friends, and international community.
Our Goal: To Learn and Give Back
On our first trip in November 2022, we covered 4 villages in India. After being involved with numerous procedures for heart attacks, strokes, and arrhythmia disorders, we continue to wonder what would happen if we got to these patients 10 years earlier and prevented the chronic conditions leading up to these disaster moments.
We learned a lot from our patients in the villages. They were compassionate, giving, willing to help their fellow villagers in any way, and knowledgeable in many passed down traditions of ayurveda. However, in terms of their personal healthcare, many had never gotten a check up or were leery to get a check up because if they found something, how would they handle the burden of a chronic disease.
After studying the patterns, we found nearly 70% untreated HTN, 30% diabetes, and 40% overweight. We also found a lack of basic understanding of these medical problems. For example, one villager told me he had been diagnosed with HTN 2 years ago and took the pills for 30 days. He assumed he was cured at that point as no other information was given at the time of diagnosis. Well, 2 years later, we found his BP was 200/100! Another patient had a glucose level of 438 and had no idea she had diabetes! Another villager commented that it was common for people in his village to suffer from paralysis (what he meant was strokes but didn’t realize this was from untreated HTN!).
A crux of the problem was lack of basic medical understanding as well as lack of dietary knowledge. The common diet was very high in salt and saturated fat (oil and butter). These as we know lead to chronic conditions such as HTN and DM.
If we can help diagnose, educate, and make early lifestyle changes with short term medications, we may be able to prevent major issues years later!
We are privileged enough to have constant internet access and a plethora of resources at our fingertips, but not all people are as fortunate. In our approach, we will use 100% of our donations to bring resources such as diagnostic equipment, medications, and educational materials to start our journey to heal and spread prevention tactics to create a healthier India.