“Sacred” Event
“Sacred” was the theme at this live Indian dance.
Dr. Sangita Rangala from Edward Hospital in Naperville and the Edward Foundation hosted the event at North Central College’s Pfeiffer Hall 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.”
Edward Hospital Care Center
Getting them on that road to recovery needs many resources and right now Dr. Rangala is doing it on her own.
A recent house bill that passed requires hospitals in Illinois to provide sexual abuse examinations or have a referral agreement with an area provider.
Since most hospitals are not able to do this, Edward hospital expects to get more patients referred to them, which is why it’s so important to have more trained sexual abuse nurse examiners.
“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.
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.
They hope to raise $100,000 from the event.
Naperville News 17’s Aysha Ashley Househ reports.
