Prof. Sangita Mahanta
UST, Meghalaya
Contact Info
Education
Assistant Professor and Head, Department of Social Work
University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya
Congratulations, Team Sanjeevani for the extraordinary work done in the realm of delivering services in the society. It is a privilege for me to have been given this opportunity to express my gratitude towards everyone working for Sanjeevani, for they have given our students the much-needed experience they needed as student social workers. I am also thankful to our well trained and able alumni Ms. Sumki and many others who are sources of pride to the Department of Social Work, USTM. Our student social workers gained various eye-opening experiences under the kind guidance of team Sanjeevani, and the interns were exposed to equipped learning experiences to meet social work profession's commitment to meet the needs of the vulnerable and oppressed members of the society, particularly important in the context of cancer, serving an essential role in the efforts to eliminate health disparities. Sanjeevani Life Beyond Cancer made our students realize the importance of social workers as key members of the health care team and how they intervene at various levels and in multiple systems to improve the quality of life and cancer care. Our students also learned how as social workers we are to provide information on available resources, medical and insurance coverage as well as how to interact with the family members and the children in their lives and make them aware of cancer. Added to that, our students were also trained by Sanjeevani on how to assist patients in coping with the diagnosis, and they also learned various techniques to reduce anxiety. I am glad that because of Sanjeevani, our students also learned the importance of providing support to colleagues around compassion fatigue so much that they can deal with the stressors. They are now trained to deal with the psychological, social, emotional, and spiritual problems that people often deal with oncology. As future social workers, they are ready to help people with multiple practical needs, for instance, in searching for resources in institutions, and with such complex requirements such as adapting to an illness, dealing with changes and decision making, navigating cultural issues, and communicating with family members, friends, and health care providers. They are now becoming more involved in research, designing, conducting, and leading studies that aim to advance knowledge that ultimately will help improve people's quality of life.