T1D, we do care

Yog Dhyan’s team visits designated hospitals at periodic intervals to get referrals of children with T1D from the doctors. Documents confirming that the child has T1D are procured for record keeping and tracking purposes. As part of the referral process, a background check is undertaken of the child and the family, especially of the socio-economic status. The parents are informed about the Foundation and the advantages of sending their children for group yoga classes, and encouraged to start attending these sessions.

Once the children with T1D are identified, discussions are held with the family members, to analyze the difficulties faced in the management of diabetes and how to tackle them.

In these families, the major initial difficulties center around the financial burden of procuring medical supplies (insulin, syringes, BG strips, other tests needed) regularly. Therefore the first help extended is provision of a glucometer to the family, along with 50 test strips on a monthly basis. The parents are taught to use the glucometer effectively. Nutritious diet for the child is also given free of cost. Free yoga classes for the entire family help them understand the positive impact of exercise on the BG directly, and on stress reduction. Further, counseling sessions are provided from time to time to help the family cope with the emotional stress related to a chronic, demanding disease. In addition, the group yoga sessions provide an opportunity for the families to meet others with the same disorder, experience a sense of camaraderie, and share problems and solutions. This reduces the sense of stigma, isolation and resentment to a great extent. All efforts are made to help the child and the family lead a normal and healthy life.