- Sensitises Public on Preventive Road Traffic Accident Measures & Post-Crash Care
In a bid to ensure road crash victims get emergency responses in cases of road crashes, thereby mitigating against casualty level, the Health Emergency Initiative (HEI) a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) has organised a charity walk tagged “Walk for Life 2.0” at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-araba Lagos in conjunction with the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), the Nigerian Police Force (NFP), the Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA) and other relevant government bodies.
Speaking at the event, the Executive Director of the organisation Mr. Paschal Achunine said that the Walk, which is the second in the series is geared towards discouraging and changing the current narrative of recording road traffic accidents scenes with the advent of social media, while victims are left without care and eventually die.
According to Mr Achunine, HEI has saved over 500 lives through swift provision of funds for vulnerable and indigent patients in public health institutions and hopes to sustain the tempo in the coming years.
“Everyone has a responsibility to make the world a better place, hence we welcome the public to join the HEI family in the mission of saving more lives as we proclaim that none should die”, Paschal averred
The walk that started in the morning with over 130 participants had a total of 6km walk from LUTH and back promoting the HEI advocacy of “NONE SHOULD DIE” with code phrases such as “don’t just watch, save a life”, ” make a difference” and “your token can save a life” amongst other slogans, all geared towards sensitising the public on the need to promptly support road crash victims, which will reduce death.
The Charity Walk also serves as a means of creating awareness to the public about the presence and impact of HEI as a non-profit organisation in the Nigerian society and seeks for support from well-meaning Nigerians especially corporate organizations towards the safety of lives.
The NGO through its various projects had embarked upon medical interventions including successfully saving the life of the only surviving child among 4 siblings of a couple whose home was razed by fire recently and payment of hospital bills to free mothers who had just given birth from medical detentions.
Others interventions include; payment of hospital bills for victims of road traffic accidents in emergency situations, payment of treatment funds for sick children diagnosed of tetanus, malnutrition, hernia, intestinal obstruction among others.
The event had in attendance officials of LASAMBUS, FRSC, LASTMA, Civil Defence, Sheriff Officers, VIO, Nigerian Prisons, NYSC Corp members, Leap Africa, Kobo 360, media houses, donor partners and volunteers among others who supports the laudable initiative.
The highpoint of the event was the presentation of certificates to the recent grandaunts of HEI’s First (Emergency) Responders Training Scheme which included 19 participants featuring officers of FRSC, VIO, LASTMA, Police, Nigerian Prisons, NYSC member, Social workers at National Orthopaedic Igbobi and LUTH and a few HEI members and staff.
Health Emergency Initiative (HEI) is a non-profit organisation that stands in the gap for the vulnerable/indigent patients in public health institutions in Nigeria. The NGO assists with provision of funds for the resuscitation and stabilisation of road traffic accident victims and also trains individuals, groups and organisations to be skilled First (Emergency) Responders with certification by the American Heart Association.
Signed
Paschal Achunine
Executive Director
