Community Outreach

SRHU lays down great emphasis on social welfare of the society as a whole. For the benevolence of mankind and to reach out to the underprivileged class it conducts several programs which touch masses. Through dedicated teams, it reaches out to remote areas, specially where accessibility to essential services is acutely low and works to provide relief. Identifying similar spirit of work across the nation, individuals/institutions are also awarded “Swami Rama Humanitarian Award” for bringing about economical, environmental, scientific, social & spiritual growth of the humanity. The University works closely with Himalayan Institute Hospital Trust (HIHT) our Promoting Society, Rural Development Institute (RDI) - an allied unit, Department of Community Medicine, etc. that run numerous public welfare programs. Various academic units are equally engaged in social welfare through programs such as Rural Immersion, among others.

Rural Development

SRHU works closely with RDI in the areas of health, education, water & sanitation, skills and other development issues. A snapshot of contribution is as follows:-

Health

- Continue to work and facilitate empowerment of women and community health workers. Some are now local village heads, frontline health workers under Government etc.

- Instrumental in bringing the rate of infant mortality below the risk sign.

- Contributed in improving the Ante-Natal Check up

- Facilitated change in attitude towards service benefits

- Extended support to 200,000+ Women and 19,000+ Children

Education

- Health education to over 10,000 school students

- Scholarship distribution to over 300 children

Water & Sanitation

- Made drinking water available in villages using anti-gravity schemes / rain water storage in over 325 villages

- Introduced solar panel technology in the hinterlands of Uttarakhand

- Implemented 200+ Water Supply Schemes

- Installed 12,000+ Sanitation Units

Adolescents

- One of the earlier organizations to initiate Peer Model for adolescent initiatives

- Content developed for Adolescents has been up scaled under SABLA scheme (PAN India)

- Reached out to 110,000+ Adolescents

- Empaneled as National Training Providers under Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. Of India

Disability & Rehabilitation

- Set up 64 disabled people’s organization at village level and framed one federation at block level.

- Sensitized over 800+ teachers, local village heads and front line health workers

- Created inclusive content including Braille Book on Menstrual hygiene

- Offered social welfare support to over 400 people with disability

- Financial support extended to 281 children from the disaster affected areas

COMMUNITY HEALTH

The Department of Community Medicine, both in Medical and Nursing Institute, offers a vista of holistic health to its beneficiaries residing in its field practice area through its collaboration with Community Health Center, Doiwala and three own outreach Health Centres viz. RHTC, Kurkawala, UHTC, Rishikesh and UHC, Ghamandpur, which are being used for teaching, training, research and community health work.

The dedicated faculty and staff are instrumental in channelizing National Health Programs by GOI into the general population. Apart from this, health and screening camps are conducted every month reaching the marginalized population.

Community Medicine team keeps a demographic record of the beneficiaries through family surveys and actively mobilizes community to raise their awareness via IEC activities including health rallies, nukkadnatak, focused group discussions, health talks, quizzes, surveys, and health camps encouraging community participation. Monitoring and surveillance activities are routinely undertaken in the field practice area for a constant scrutiny of the health of our community.

The department, over the years has successfully participated in and conducted:

Awareness and surveys regarding national programs like National Vector Borne Disease Control Program, National Programme on Prevention and Control of Diabetes, CVD and Stroke.

Active participation in National Programs and schemes eg. Measles-Rubella Campaign, Pulse Polio Immunisation and ICDS Monitoring in Uttarakhand where its efforts have been recognized and lauded by the Office of DGHS, Uttarakhand.

The department has carved out a niche in public health services and research on issues catering to the marginalized population and health issues in Uttarakhand viz. establishment of Geriatric friendly health clinics, non-communicable disease surveys, nutritional surveys with focus on iodine deficiency disorders, geriatric nutrition and food adulteration, thyroid disorders and gender based violence to name a few.

Primordial prevention of lifestyle diseases through conduction of school health weeks.

Encouraging community participation and providing Community diagnosis and treatment.

Observation of Public Health Days in the community

Public Health Days are observed in the community every year to increase public awareness on a particular health issue and provide its detailed knowledge to its beneficiaries. We try to encourage the most vulnerable groups to check their health status and follow medication. The Day is also an occasion to mobilize political and social commitment for further progress.

The department holds regular clinics concerning Mother & Child health, Adolescent, Cancer Awareness & Screening, Geriatric Friendly Clinic etc.

Programs under National Health Mission (NHM)

University is actively participating in NHM programme launched by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. With an aim to strengthen health systems and adopt Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS), Medical and health services are being offered at CHC Doiwala, Dehradun with special focus on reproductive, maternal, child and adolescent health.

Other Community Initiatives

The University recently renovated Gauri Public library, named after the mother of Gurudev HH Dr Swami Rama, at Kotdwar, Garhwal which is the oldest and the only library in the city. This library has more than 13,000 books and some rare books by the regional and national authors. In future the Library will be fully digitalised and will have a facility of E-Library.

Swami Rama Humanitarian Award

Since 2003, each year, an award dedicated to Gurudev HH Shri Swami Rama, is given in recognition of the work of an individual / institution for economical, environmental, scientific, social & spiritual growth of the world. The award consists of Rupees Five Lacs, a Gold Medal and a Citation.