“At the end of the day you will not remember the person with the most beautiful face but you will remember the person with the most beautiful heart and soul.” Keeping this in mind, the staff and management of the HCG Apex Cancer Centre, Borivali (West) invited the children of Bosco Boys Home, Borivali to their hospital on 15th September, 2018 for celebrating the auspicious Ganpati festival from 3 pm to 5pm. The 35 children of the orphanage were accompanied by 4 staff members and Cl. Jittin Mathew.

This was the first year ‘HCG Apex Cancer Centre’ was celebrating the festival in their organization and to make it special this indoor activity was arranged for the boys on this auspicious festival. The trip consisted of Ganpati Darshan in the hospital, session on Health and Hygiene, Drawing competition, Tattoo making and return gifts and snacks for the children. Even the travelling was taken care by the hospital.

The session on Health and Hygiene was given by Dr. Deepa Trivedi of the infection control team. She quoted “ Healthy Isn’t a Goal, it’s a Way of Living…Listen to your body take care of your body…It’s the only place you have to Live in.” She highlighted various important topics related to health and hygiene which are necessary for healthy lifestyles. The topics covered by her were the importance of having a balanced diet to live a healthy life. She explained that, “Balanced diet gives us nutrients for daily calories. Through this the entire person receives carbohydrates, protein and essential vitamins which are wanted for the healthy living.” She also mentioned the harmful influence of Junk food like: aerated drinks, chips, Kurkure, pizzas, pickles, salt which have created havoc in the society. She emphasized that due to lack of exercise, poor diet and lots of Junk food there is a rapid rise in the diseases like diabetes, obesity etc. Master Raj Ravat a boy of the orphanage shared “Eat Better….Feel Better…Eat wisely. You don’t have to eat less, you just have to eat Right…More Veggies, fruits and plenty of water for healthy life”. Importance of washing hand before and after eating was also explained to the boys meticulously. There was also a session on Sleep Hygiene. Dr. Trivedi said, “Away from mobile and internet 2 hours before sleeping. Sleep in time which will keep us healthy and less sleep will take toll on our body which will leads to many sicknesses and damage our organs.”

Another session on importance of Sports and its benefits on health was taken by Shilpa Gadre. She highlighted many health benefits of playing sports like the increase release of Carbon Dioxide from the body, keeping one stress free, improving concentration and inculcating the spirit of community and fitness. Also the importance of having a proper sitting posture was explained by Shilpa Gadre. She said, “Daily sitting straight will keep our backbone healthy and blood circulation in the brain will function smoothly.” Master Raja Goswami another 9th std boy had to say this about playing sports, “Regularly playing sports helps to develop the skills and strategies which later help us to study well and cope up with the pressure of education”. It also gives us peace of mind, and frees us from all worries of the day to day life…If we don’t play our body will not function properly and we will be lazy.”

After the sessions, a creative artwork of Drawing Competition and Tattoos making was organized for the kids which they enjoyed wholeheartedly. As a part over delicious snacks along with gifts were given to the children.

            The event was well organized by Soniya Masurekar, Assistant Manager of HCG Apex Cancer Centre and her team. All the children were glad to be part of this enthusiastic and informative event. Master Pratik Gade on the behalf of Bosco Boys Home, thanked all the staff of HCG Apex Cancer Hospital for spending their precious time and conducting various activities as well as showering them with all the lovely gifts. He concluded by saying that this programme taught him various points on how to remain healthy and how to eat healthy food.

In the end, all boys showed their gratefulness by singing a ‘Thank You’ song to all the team of Apex Cancer Hospital.