On 20th March 2009, the Foundation of Goodness' Medical Centre moved premises for the morning. Closing the Seenigama clinic and pharmacy, doctors, pharmacy staff and equipment relocated to the Rathgama Wijeyrathne Elders' Home, 8km south of Seenigama.

The home was opened in 1956 and care is provided by Matron Lilian Kanakaratne and a team of committed staff to 89 elderly men and women from the southern province. Coming from backgrounds where family has passed away, moved out of the area or are too poor to care for their elderly relatives, these men and women find comfort and compassion within the safe walls of the home, which is in great condition and is sufficiently funded to ensure that the best care can be given.

The Foundation of Goodness' Medical Centre has provided vital services in Seenigama since before the Tsunami and today provides primary healthcare to nearly 1500 patients a month from 40 villages in the region. Established thanks to innovation of volunteer paediatric specialists Deepa and Jugtha and the generous response of Tsunami reconstruction donors such as VU Medisch Centrum, Direct Relief International, Notre Dame Academy, Townsville and Aviva, the centre provides a medical clinic, medi-lab, nurse, mental health programme and dental clinic. It is a one of a kind facility of high standards, which is unique for a rural village community, providing all care and drugs free of cost to all comers. Now, with the lifeline of sustainability funding from Planet Wheeler Foundation, the Medical Centre continues to provide innovative healthcare programmes to the villagers in the Seenigama region.

One of the challenges of the Medical Centre is to be able to reach out to those who are unable to make their own way to the centre for treatment. So when staff put the suggestion forward to take their services to the Elders' Home, the idea was quickly put into action. Staff had visited the Home as children to take alms, and so wished to return to help the most vulnerable and most in need of medical care.

The programme provided two doctors, Dr. Shirley and Dr. Kushan, and three pharmacy staff, Chamika, Chamina and Sharmen, as well as a supply of medicines and necessary equipment. The sector manager, Fazana Ibrahim, also learnt to administer the drugs on this day as all hands were called for to deal with the sheer number of patients present. By the end of the morning 46 men and women had been seen by the doctors.

 
Key illnesses and complaints addressed included coughs and colds, wheezing, fever and diabetes. Diabetes tests were administered and this was by far the most common issue facing the elders.

Medical Centre staff plan to provide regular visits to the Elders' Home, so that the expertise developed within Seenigama can have maximum benefit for those who are most in need.

It is the hope of the Foundation of Goodness that the model for community development that has been developed in Seenigama will radiate outwards into the most excluded and isolated rural villages throughout Sri Lanka, so that children and youth may be able to excel and communities may be empowered to fight poverty through productive activities.

Kushil Gunasekera, Trustee and Founder of the Foundation of Goodness wants the lessons learnt from the work in Seenigama to benefit more and more people. “We are reaching a milestone in the history of the Foundation of Goodness” he said. “After ten years of work within rural communities in the south-west, we are in a strong position to be able to help those whose need is greatest.  And now we can take the benefits of this work, our committed staff, strong governance systems and lessons from our years of work in the community to help the most vulnerable all over Sri Lanka. With peace on the horizon, we at the Foundation of Goodness are committed to working with local people to bridge the gap between urban and rural communities so that a bright future may be had by all, with the envisioned sponsorship for collaboration.”

“Success means doing the best we can with what we have. Success is the doing, not the getting; in the trying, not the triumph. Success is a personal standard, reaching for the highest that is in us, becoming all that we can be.”

2009.05.11