Media Release

Bengaluru, May 21: The Good Sam Foundation, a Bengaluru based NGO, focused on supporting People with Disabilities (PWD’s) organized a Critical Wound Camp in Bengaluru on the May 2.

This camp was focused on reaching PWD’s with severe and chronic bedsores which had left them in hopeless state. The Covid-19 lockdown had further restricted their movements and prevented them from getting access to supportive health care and ongoing treatment for their bedsores, leading to a rapid deterioration of their overall health with some of the wounds turning into gaping holes between 2 to 4 inches in diameter and going up to 3 inches deep.

For the Good Sam Foundation, there could not have been a more pressing time to set out on a mission to bring healing and restoration in the lives of the PWD’s.

In the midst of the Covid-19 lockdown, Nelly Prichard, Trustee of the Good Sam Foundation, reached out to Ms. Sheryl Colaco, a Wound Specialist for help. Sheryl is daughter of Simon Walter Colaco, a well-known, former president of the Lions Club and Agnes Colaco, the former headmistress of Milagres School, Mangalore.

Sheryl Colaco & Preethi Valerie are the founders of Colaco Healthcare, a Private Limited Company that manufactures an ointment called “GoHeal” - a natural medicine, very effective in the treatment of severe bedsores, diabetic wounds, varicose related injuries or other crippling injuries resulting from accidents or diseases.

Sheryl Colaco at the request and invitation of the Good Sam Foundation, sought the necessary permissions and passes from the Government of Karnataka to travel to Bengaluru and drove out by herself on this selfless mission, not mindful of the risk posed by Covid-19 to herself.

All arrangements and preparations on the ground were orchestrated by Nelly Prichard. Specific patients with bedsores, those suffering excruciating pain, and others who were bed-ridden for as long as five to ten years were identified through the Good Sam Foundation network.

Sheryl Colaco was accompanied on all the patient visits in different parts of the city by the Good Sam Team, comprising of Nelly Prichard and Helen Rodrigues – (An experienced nurse), and volunteers Shaikh Hidayatand, Nawaz.

Ably assisted by Helen Rodrigues, Sheryl Colaco was able clean and dress wound after wound with love and gentle care, binding them with the 'GoHeal' ointment and giving the PWD’s and their caregivers advice about ongoing wound care and personal hygiene. The team that went from home to home, started early in the day and completed their last visit close to 9 PM in the night with a sense of accomplishment and joy in their hearts, thanking God for giving them this great opportunity yet again to complete another Good Sam Mission of touching and 'Transforming Lives…One at a Time' The Good Sam Foundation is grateful to UT Khader, former minister, government of Karnataka and a sitting MLA from Mangalore for his assistance in ensuring the safe travel of Sheryl Colaco to Bengaluruand back and IPS officer B M Laxmi Prasad, superintendent of police, Dakshina Kannada district, for clearances and support on this mission.

This mission of the Good Sam Foundation was very special as it was managed by an all-woman team that rose above the norm in very unprecedented times to make the impossible possible in the lives of the helpless. Special thanks to Nelly Prichard, Sheryl Colaco, Preethi Valerie and nurse Helen Rodrigues for their selfless service and commitment to making a difference.

The Good Sam Foundation is a Public Charitable Trust that reaches out to people whose lives have been shattered, broken or derailed by tragic situations or desperate circumstances and has supported them with timely help to bring healing and restoration intheir lives and set them up to face and celebrate life again.

The service of the Good Sam Foundation transcends barriers of religion, language, caste, sexual orientation, nationality and focuses on humanitarian service.

The Good Sam Foundation is led and managed by David Istacky and Nelly Prichard. 

For more information about the Good Sam Foundation, please visit at: http://www.goodsam.in

You may also call on: +919886030809/ +919448055444