Embassy and Cerner join with Corporates and NGOs to implement holistic Health & Hygiene initiatives in 62 Government Schools
Embassy Group, India’s leading real estate developer and Cerner Corporation, a global health platform and innovation company, have created a consortium of corporates and NGOs to enhance the health and hygiene conditions of 62 Government Schools in Bangalore.
Under the Corporate Connect Program, Embassy Office Parks aims to bring together Business Park tenants with aligned Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) mandates and experienced non-profits to address a diverse number of challenges faced in Government Schools.
Since 2016, Cerner and Embassy have worked together to provide free health check-ups and maintained a medical record for more than 4000 students of 14 Embassy adopted Government Schools. With attendance levels in schools dropping, recurring conditions noted each year, and a general lack an understanding of preventative measures to combat common health problems, Embassy and Cerner invited other organizations to join them in combatting these issues in a holistic manner.
Embassy Group signed an MoU with Cerner and Bangalore North Round Table Trust to implement a seven-step Health & Hygiene approach in 14 Government Schools. This includes introducing preventative health awareness sessions throughout the academic year, distribution of health kits, annual check-ups that test children for health problems including dental and vision. The program also offers medical treatments and distribution of nutritional supplements three times a week. Together, they will also ensure the availability of safe drinking water and provide clean and hygienic surroundings to students through daily school and toilet maintenance.
In addition, Cognizant and Careworks Foundation have joined this consortium to complement these interventions. Cognizant, through its employee volunteering program Outreach, has already distributed health and hygiene kits to 550 students across six of the targeted Government Schools and has conducted short awareness sessions for them. Careworks Foundation will be sponsoring health check-ups for students at some of these Government schools.
Talking about the consortium, Aditya Virwani, COO, Embassy Group said “At Embassy, we strongly believe that collaboration in the CSR space is key to creating a sustainable and in-depth impact amongst our communities. We are glad to partner with Cerner, BNRT and Cognizant to actively improve the health and hygiene conditions of Government School students, through meaningful interventions including daily maintenance of school premises and toilets.”
Kishan Srinivas, Director, Cerner said, “Our successful collaboration with Embassy Group began four years ago and continues to expand. Last year, Cerner and Embassy implemented the “Comprehensive School Health Program,” which is a preventative holistic health care program, and together we impacted the lives of around 4,000 children from Government Schools. This year, we are very excited to have Bangalore North Round Table Trust onboard as we aim to reach 2,500 children. It has been a great experience to work with the Embassy and we look forward to a long-term association with both organisations.”
Raj Kiran, Chairman, Bangalore North Round Table Trust added, “We are delighted to work with Embassy and Cerner for this wonderful initiative to improve and maintain positive health conditions of children studying in Government Schools. Over the years, we have been involved in several infrastructure-related projects in schools – this is a natural extension of our objective towards creating a holistic environment for underprivileged students to perform to the best of their abilities.”
In the last year, Embassy and Cerner jointly supported 3734 students with free health screenings, distributed 11,000 nutritional snacks weekly, provided 2000 children with health kits and ensured 714 students received free further treatment for their medical needs, across 14 of Embassy’s adopted Government Schools. Cerner and Embassy also jointly supported the daily maintenance of 141 toilets.
