Anna and I had an outing last week end at Vellore, which gave us an opportunity to visit the Developmental Paediatrics Unit at the Christian Medical College.
This unit was initiated in 1997 to start the speciality of Developmental Paediatrics in India, through a Memorandum of Understanding between CMC Vellore and ASHIRVAD, an initiative for child development. It is a department with advanced facilities and trained professionals to promote child development of children with developmental challenges. Dr Samuel and Dr Beena belonged to the first batch of post-doctoral scholars in Developmental Paediatrics, who transformed that initiative into a place of hope for children and families. The academic, professional and integrated child development content of this unit earned this unit to be considered to become an Institute of Child Development sooner or later.
Anna and I felt touched by the hospitality and welcome we received. It was good to meet with Premila and Shekahr, earlier working at ASHIRVAD Child Development Centre at Chennai, who joined this unit 27 years ago at its inception and continue there since then. We felt touched by the warm regards and encouragement we received from the professionals in theUnit.
Anna and I want to offer the flowers below from our garden to the team in Developmental Paediatrics Unit to express our gratitude for their faithful service with a sense of calling to promote child development and parenting skills of families.
The other event that we were invited to be present was the ground breaking ceremony for a children's hospital at the Ranipet campus
of the Christian Medical College, Vellore. It was an occasion of encouragement because, the thought about having a children's hospital was an idea which was in the air for about thirty years.
I hope that this hospital would evolve into a Child Life Hospital, where children would feel accompanied to reach their optimal potential in life by responding to their needs during the seasons of their illness and wellness. I wish the leadership of the hospital would plan to develop the new hospital to offer services to promote life and formation of childhood by a planned partnership programme involving parents, teachers at school and health care professionals in the hospital!
The home, school and hospital are three ambiences, which can jointly facilitate the development of life, childhood formation and realisation of a child's prospects in life.
Anna and I present the photo below from our garden to send our greetings to the leadership of the hospital, as they now prepare to start the work to build the Child Life Hospital, which would at its completion would define a new concept of integrated child life support through shared activities of parents, teachers and health care professionals!
We returned from this visit, refreshed and encouraged by the warm regards we received. On Sunday we were invited to join the alumni gathering around lunch, which gave us a pleasant experience of meeting and greeting many whom we had not met for a while.
For health care professionals a visit to CMC Vellore is a pilgrimage because through its history of 124 years, it highlights values and ethos which inspire us to live its motto, 'not to be served but to serve'!
M.C.Mathew (text and photo)
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