“Sacred” Event
“Sacred” was the theme at this live Indian dance.
Back in September, Dr. Sangita Rangala from Edward Hospital in Naperville and the Edward Foundation hosted the event to help raise awareness and money for the hospital’s care center.
The care center provides services for sexually abused children.
“So the purpose of classical art in India is to find our inner value and nurture it and celebrate it and share it with the world. To see that same innate value with everyone and everything around us. And that’s what we do in the Care Center as well,” said Rangala. “When kids come in and they’re feeling really bad about themselves, feeling less than or inadequate we try to help them think about their own innate value, wake it up a little bit, and try to get them on the road to recovery.”
What They’re Doing Now
Getting them on that road to recovery requires many resources. The $50,000 raised from the event will help them provide even better care for patients.
“We’re one of very few centers that offers this kind of specialized care, especially for pediatrics. So to be a part of this and band the community together to put more people with specialized training in front of the patients that need it is very important to me,” said Brett Skeen, executive director of the Edward Foundation.
A recent House Bill that passed requires hospitals in Illinois to provide sexual abuse examinations or have a referral agreement with an area provider.
Although it doesn’t fully go into effect until 2023, Dr. Rangala said they need to begin preparing from now since it takes time to get nurses fully trained.
To become a sexual abuse nurse examiner, it takes 40 hours of classroom work and 60 hours of clinical training.
At the time, Dr. Rangala was doing all the work on her own. But now, she has some help.
Since getting the new funding, the hospital has been able to train four new nurse examiners. They hope to have another six fully trained next year.
It’s events like “Sacred” that make all the difference.
The Performance
The performance gave the crowd a look into Indian culture, but a piece of it also portrayed three difficult stories that represent sexual abuse.
Her job at the care center is challenging, but helping people is what she loves.
“Any day I go to clinic, everything just falls into perspective. There’s nothing more important than helping somebody who needs help,” said Rangala.
Naperville News 17’s Aysha Ashley Househ reports.
