Tuesday, January 26, 2010

V5 Journey from Idea to Implementation



Idea shaped into words

It was two months back when the idea of SLEEP APNEA AWARENESS CAMPAIGN - JAN 2010 came in to my mind. So I decided to put a discussion on social networking site www.linkedin.com reading this, Bhaumik Vasani a student of Third Semister (IT) Changa university wrote his comment. Following to this Mr Rock Conner (RRT) and former president of (GASP) Georgia Association of Sleep Professionals said it is very essential to do something for creating awareness for OSA.
We started discussions on one of the most popular social networking site called FaceBook. We created the group called sleep apneac society of ahmedabad. There we came across Mr
Edward(Executive Director of American Sleep Apnea Association) After having several discussions with Mr Grandi, we got lot of ideas on how we can execute the whole exercise. We also thank Mr Grandi for sending us the books about few Questions and Answers on SLEEP APNEA.
Later on we came in touch with Mr J.Wyscarver (Product Marketing Manager ) CareFusion (Sandiego CA). Mr Wyscarver is a very kind hearted person. Looking at the efforts of Team V5 SOLUTIONS, He made an announcement of funding two CPAP Devices for underprivileged patients. It was a big question on how to materialise the idea. So we started preaching the concept by spreading the word of mouth which resulted building up a team of young professionals which included engineers, chartered accountants, media professionals, doctors and few business tycoons are few to name. When we had our first official meeting where we assigned different tasks to each team members, we realized that our idea is getting shaped into words.

Words carved to Action

Everybody makes a resolution of doing something good in the New Year. So did we and we made up our mind on doing the event on 24th of January 2010. Then we booked a hall in (AMA) Atira, Ahmedabad Management Association is one the most popular venues for conferences, seminars and social programs. This became the point of attraction in the public and we started receiving calls from people around asking about the event. It was a difficult task for us to understand that how we will manage to get in a crowd of 100 people, it being a Sunday. So in order to rapidly spread the message we planned to give an advertisement in a local newspaper. But thinking about the financial factor we stepped back as we had no extra fund to spend. We had decided that we will not ask for funds neither we will take any sponsorship. Now we had large obstacle to cross. But as it’s said where there is a will there is a way. Our Volunteers started doing strong publicity by distributing the invitation cards. All our team members were self motivated and all their effort without any expectations paid off.
One fine day I called up Purvee Dave and informed her about the campaign and asked her if she could spare some time and meet us so that we can hand over the invitation card to her. After I gave her the cards it stroked her mind and she asked me what all this was about. I explained the whole concept to her. She was impressed and asked me if I had any problem If she writes an article about this in her column. I was happy to hear this. I called up my team members and
asked them to meet at the same place where we had our first meet. The Photographer was to come at 04Pm. But he got late. This increased our worries and we were disappointed. Few moments later I received a text message from one of the officer of that newspaper. It contained the mobile number. I dialled the same from my cell and Karan replied that he is on his way. There we took a deep breath. Finally he came and captured the whole team into his camera. Next day, 19th January we got featured in Divyabhaskar.

This article in Divyabhaskar stepped on the gas and we were recharged. Now we had five days left to make sure that everything is arranged well in order. We printed the flex banners to be hanged on road sides so people can read and come to attend the event. We received a lot of calls for registration. This boosted up our level of enthusiasm and we started inviting more and more number of people. There is an old saying that “as you sow so you ripe”. It was 23rd of January when I received a call from a reporter from Ahmedabad Mirror. Shraddha Singh asked me if I could talk to any patient who reveals his whole account of diagnosis to treatment of OSA. So we spoke to Mr Mukesh Dave and Dr Amit Patel about it. Shraddha interviewed Mr Dave and he explained all the details about his condition. Now we were just waiting for the first ray of sun to shine. This article was published in Ahmedabad Mirror on 24rd of January 2010. This was the moment of happiness for our team because we were now getting the returns for the effort that they had out in order make the "Sleep Apnea Awareness Campaign" successful.

We all gathered at the venue at 02:00Pm to check that everything is in order. Dr’s started coming in and by 03:00PM we had all the speakers on the same platform and more than 90 people rushed in the hall with great interest and curiosity to learn about the life altering disease.


Team V5 SOLUTIONS welcomed the guests by offering the flowers and momentums.

We had Dr Nitesh Shah (Secretary of ACPG) as the chief guest and 04 Dr’s from different specialities.

These experts filled the room full of excitement by sharing their experience and knowledge.

Dr Nitesh Shah says that one should surely consult a sleep specialist if feel that you have got three or more symptoms of OSA.

Dr Amit Patel (MD CHEST and Pulmonologist) educated the audience about the symptoms and diagnosis part of OSA.

Dr Pranav Joshi (MD Neuro Physician) said that OSA is one of the prime factors which play a leading role in stroke or paralysis.

Dr Rashmit Pandya (MD Cardiologist) said OSA can increase the risk of Heart Attack other Cardio Vascular diseases

Finally Dr Deepali Kamdar who is known to be the Pioneer of sleep therapy in Ahmedabad hypnotised audience by talking about the treatment part of OSA different options available for the same. After the lectures the session of questions and answers went on for an hour.

At the end V5 team members thanked the speakers and audience for attending the event. People left the room with lot of joy because many of them learnt the mantra of Healthy Sleep.

All this activity moulded the words into action and journey which was started with the idea in the mind ended at the station of implementation.





8 comments:

  1. congrats man u had organize 1 such nice event

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  2. Congrats Umeshbhai !! Great starting !! Keep it up man !! world is waiting for u my dear !!!

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  3. My Very Best Wishes to the Team. The concept is unknown to me until I met Umesh today. Umesh, u r committed and work with dedication.

    May the Heavens bestow your efforts with bountiful of orders and revenues.

    Satish Parameswaran

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  4. Umesh you have no idea how proud I am of you. May you achieve all the success your heart desires and may God always be with you to guide and protect you. Last but not the least, Congratulations to you and your team and Best wishes for the future!

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  5. Your blog is insightful. I hope you can educate people to come forward to help them self. The approach of my blog is far less serious but occasionally I'm helpful too. Thanks for you comment.

    Steve

    "MORE GLIB ThAN PROFOUND" @
    www.steve-mgtp.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete