Navhind Times

This is excerpt from an original article on Navhind Times.

Art is not just a fun activity but is also known as a great form of meditation. Thus with the aim of getting more people to take up art and as a means of giving artists a platform to conduct workshops, Senniel Gomes together with Victor Mohan started The Crimson Canvas in Bengaluru last year.

“During my medical school years, I took up art as a stress buster. Surprisingly people liked my works and even bought some of them. I then began conducting art activities for parties and was advised to take this up seriously,” says Gomes. Thus, The Crimson Canvas came into being.

Now after conducting activities in Surat and Bengaluru, and given that Gomes is Goan herself, the organisation is now making its way to Goa. “We already have four artists onboard and are looking to add 10 more,” says Gomes.

And to start things off, the organisation, which began with a fundraising marathon together with Goa College of Architecture on January 19 at Campal Grounds, is now all set to host ‘Art by the Beach’, a fundraiser to fight cervical cancer on January 25 at Miramar Beach

The Art By The Beach fundraiser in Goa

This initiative is in collaboration with Reach Lives India, an NGO, co-founded by Gomes and Mohan, which is meant to bridge the gap between the rich and poor. The NGO comprises #ReachHealth, #ReachNutrition and #ReachCreativity. “As part of #ReachHealth we have collaborated with a couple of hospitals and conduct health camps in rural and slum areas in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and are now looking at starting this in Goa,” says Gomes. Under #ReachNutrition they collect good quality leftover food from restaurants and distribute these to night shelters. Their #ReachCreativity is done with The Crimson Canvas where all the profits generated from the art activities go into aiding orphanages, disabled homes, etc. “We also look at picking out children who show potential in art and train them. The aim is to train them enough so that they can become a part of The Crimson Canvas too,” says Gomes.

In Goa, however, they are looking at focusing on cervical cancer, which people don’t have enough awareness about, states Gomes.

“Not many people know about cervical cancer nor do people like talking about reproductive parts of the body. Men of course ignore it completely as a female disease,” says Gomes. One of the reasons why this topic is still taboo is that as per the textbook definition, one of the main factors for getting this cancer is having multiple sexual partners. “Thus, they believe that if you have it, it means that one has been promiscuous, but in truth that is not the only cause factor,” says Gomes. In fact, she adds, her initial plan was to have a couple of survivors of cervical cancer share their stories at the January 25 event. “But they don’t even want to say that they had cervical cancer preferring to instead say it was uterine or some other cancer,” says Gomes.

Thus, there is a need to talk about this cancer more, states Gomes, and also about the existence of a vaccine against it. “The problem is that at the moment the cost of the vaccine is around six to seven thousand rupees for the whole dose and it is manufactured by only one pharmaceutical company,” says Gomes. For this fundraiser and awareness campaign they have collaborated with this company. All the proceeds from the event will go towards making these vaccines more affordable. “We’re targeting around 100 children between the age of 9 to 12 years mainly from orphanages in and around Panaji, to get heavily discounted vaccines for them,” says Gomes. In the past one week, some team members along with doctors from Manipal Hospital have been going around educating people about the vaccination and the need for screening.

The WeCan 2020 marathon fundraiser for our vaccine clinic

The event itself will be a painting session of one-hour duration and is open to everybody. No prior art experience is necessary. “Participants will be guided on the different materials required in painting. The workshop is themed around Mario Miranda kind of paintings. The participants will get to take home the entire art kit which will be provided. The hope is that this will encourage them to continue painting in the future,” she says.

Read the full article on Navhind Times.

YourStory

This is an excerpt from an original article on YOURSTORY.

Much like most other individuals who pursue medicine as a career, Victor Mohan chose to study medicine because of its potential to help one have a meaningful impact on millions of lives.

Reach Lives volunteers at a Reach Health camp

Yet, after graduating MBBS, when it was time for him to take his NEET exam to specialise with a post-graduate degree, he decided to branch out in hopes of taking an alternate view in healthcare. “The prospect of becoming a highly specialised surgeon attending to a handful of self-selecting patients just didn’t seem exciting to me, not when I would be leaving behind thousands of underprivileged patients who couldn’t reach me,” he says.

The problem with access to healthcare is well documented. In fact, a study published in the Lancet in 2018 noted that India fared the worst among the sampled 136 countries when it came to preventable deaths — 2.4 million individuals on average die annually due to treatable illnesses. This, according to Victor, is despite the best efforts of the government and health institutions.

“There are too many barriers to accessing quality healthcare, ranging from financial constraints and geographic access to cultural norms and perhaps most importantly, lack of awareness,” he says.

The real effects of these barriers were first felt by him during his medical training. “A question of ‘can he/she afford it?’, was constantly being asked and such questions must simply not be a consideration when deciding to treat someone. So, I decided to play my part and do something about it,” he adds.

Partnerships to reach more lives

Partnering with Senneil Gomes, another student at St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore, he decided to found Reach Lives.

“We created this organisation in order to bring healthcare and health education closer to underprivileged communities,” says Victor.

“Based on my many conversations with senior doctors during my training, I was aware of the fact that doctors wanted to help reach these communities; however, it was just too difficult to identify deserving communities and set up the infrastructure needed to deliver services. Through the Reach Lives platform, doctors and other healthcare providers can volunteer their services at their convenience and leave the logistic preparation and community mobilisation to us,” he adds.

As luck would have it, they were able to skip much of the bureaucracy involved in starting a non-profit by teaming up with Anora Charitable Foundation, an organisation which had been started by his mother, Mini Mohan, to help the poor with financial assistance several years back. Since inception, they have organised over 30 outreach events in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

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“We first contact communities, which range from urban slums and rural villages to underfunded schools and orphanages, and identify their needs. Following this, we approach the service providers including doctors, nurses and other health staff who are able to address those needs, and host them at an outreach camp organised by us with the help of volunteers who work with us,” says Victor.

Reach Lives has also partnered with large hospital chains to set up comprehensive health clinics with multiple specialities such as dental and eye care. According to Victor, it’s a simple model which has worked well.

Efforts to create awareness and accessibility

Reach Lives is currently engaged in the organisation of a large fundraising and awareness campaign in Goa during January – the Cervical Cancer awareness month - to highlight the second leading but preventable cause of cancer-related deaths among women in India.

“We will be hosting a marathon in association with the Goa College of Architecture to raise funds. During these events, we will also be targeting select communities to educate women on the importance of screening for the disease during adult life,” Victor says.

Later in the month, the funds raised from the event will be used to organise an outreach event, where HPV-vaccines, which can prevent 90 percent of cervical cancer cases, but cost over Rs. 4,000 for two doses, will be provided free for young girls, in association with a multi-national pharmaceutical company and the state government.

“We hope that through our efforts, young girls from marginalised communities can also access these life-saving but expensive vaccines,” says Victor.

When asked about the future, Victor claims that healthcare is just the start for Reach Lives. The organisation has recently branched out to launch the ‘Reach Nutrition’ initiative, which is tapping unused food at various levels of the food chain and redirecting it to the urban homeless in Bangalore. Another initiative is ‘Reach Creativity’, which provides vocational training in art to children in orphanages.

Victor says, “I envision Reach Lives to become a platform for any service provider, manufacturer or retailer including hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, restaurants, neighbourhood grocers, supermarkets, etc., to reach out to deserving communities without worrying about the hassle involved in reaching them.”

Read the full article on YourStory.

Indian Express

This is excerpt from an original article on the Indian Express.

Reporters from the Indian Express joined our volunteers at Sparsha Trust in Sahakarnagar, Bengaluru for a fun art workshop that was organized as part of the Paint to Empower initiative. The Paint to Empower program was instituted to use art as a tool and help children manage stress. Since its inception in 2019, Reach Lives in partnership with The Crimson Canvas has brought these fun workshops to over 2000 children in Bengaluru, Goa and Surat. Read more about the Paint to Empower program, and about Reach Health, our healthcare inititative.

Article on Indian Express

Join us at the next Paint to Empower event as a volunteer and bring joy to kids in orphanages and foster homes.