Corporate Leader with passion for Fitness and community service. Winner of #IBMWomenWhoInspire South Asia 2017 and won several IT achievement awards. International Yoga Alliance - Certified Yoga Teacher. Formerly-Champion Runners coach-Skechers, Running Coach at Cure.fit. She was profiled as GameChangers2017 an elite list of 21 women across world. Six star world marathon majors finisher * and *profiled by world marathon majors who credited her with sparking a revolution in women’s running in India.
Highest number of visually challenged full marathon runners was achieved by covering a distance of 42.2kms accompanied by Guide Runners India team,under the guidance of Head Coach Dr.Bhumika Patelat Bengaluru Marathon on October 21, 2018 .
The record is confirmed for entry into September edition of Limca book of Records 2021
A Big applaud for the Guide Runners India team to make the impossible possible as they put their heart and soul for continuous support to the visually impaired athletes throughout their journey to success.
For Full Marathon: Bhumika for full and Venkat for half, to be a strong support for Sunitha. Praveen Shetty to support Mala. Bhadresh for full and Sudha for second half, a strong support for Renuka. Nandeesh to guide Kavya, Rahul and Abhishek to support Nandeesh till the finish line. Sachin and Shekhar for support for Ajay.
(The workouts are recorded and can be repeated by anyone joining at beginner -Intermediate level)
Registrations are open! Contact info@guiderunnersindia.in or Bhumika 9845018103
Note: Guides can refer and send the videos for each day posted on https://www.facebook.com/guiderunnersindia OR alternately can also do a workout which goes with the focus of that day.
FIRST OF ITS KIND RUN FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED RUNNERS AND GUIDES
A tribute to COVID-19 Warriors, health workers and Emergency rescue teams
First edition on Sep 12th, 2020 Second editio -November 1st, 2020
Join virtually via zoom link for flagoff and warmup! Participate alongside Erich Manser (VI)- World Record Holder for Iron Man, Niket Dalal (VI) Indian Record Holder for Ironman and Amarjeet Singh (VI): Ultra Marathoner, Neha Pawaskar (VI) holds several records in sports and many inspirational runners
A Time Based run: 30mins/60mins
Virtual Run for Community 1st edition(Sep 12th 2020)-Media Coverage & Participation:
(Note: If you have already have login Id for Guide website , you donot need to register again. 1 yr membership is Rs 200, waived off for vi and students, contributed to Kindness work)
Location Protocol trainings have started! Write to info@guiderunnersindia.in for clarifications on the registration and access.
Kindness Location trainings – Learning aids will help you with tools and techniques to do acts of kindness /Guide Running/Volunteering
Course name: Virtual Emergency Support Guide to Visually Impaired
This is a part of a series of courses with certification in association with Mitra Jyothi institute for Blind and other leading institutes. This course will help you learn how to assist someone who is blind or visually impaired as phone buddy in emergency situation such as COVID19.
Three batches have been completed till September 2020. To learn about upcoming sessions, write to info@guiderunnersindia.in
Our Advisory Board includes illustrious volunteers and Institutions as below:
USA: Run Bionic, Intelligent Performance Clinic, San Diego
USABA, Marathon National Championships, California
Team with A Vision, Boston Marathon
Bangalore : Mitra Jyothi
Delhi :National Association For The Blind
Ahmedabad: Blind People’s Association
Hyderabad: Devnar Foundation for the blind
Mumbai: All India Andh Stri Hitt Association (AIASHA)
Pune: Mai Bal Bhavan (2019), The Poona School & Home for the Blind girls
OVERVIEW:
Guide/Buddy provide confidential, reliable support that helps individuals who are blind or visually impaired lead the complete, rich, joyful lives they want to live. Guides are matched one-to-one and assist with emergency support activities during COVID19 crisis such as keeping track of elderly visuallyimpaired who are stranded and alone. Guide/Buddy may also be matched as sighted guides for fitness or community activities, thereby opening new doors and opportunities.
Each guide/buddy is thoroughly interviewed, screened, undergoes a thorough background check, and is trained by our experienced GUIDES.
Examples of activities include:
Supporting the elderly VisuallyImpaired,Well Being Check, Serving as sighted guides for running, walking, and home workouts
More details will be provided by email on enrollment!
Learning Session with Chaz Davis, VisuallyImpaired Elite Athlete with PB of 2hr 15 mins for full marathon, Massachussets Association for the Blind, USA
Learning Session with Dr Eshwar Kapur, Elite Athlete, Sports Medicine Doctor on Wellbeing and Physical screening for Blind athlete
When COVID-19 hit India, we jumped into action to help them prepare for the challenges,even before the lockdown started in India. It is a special concern for Visually Impaired as they mostly rely on touch.
The ones with Visibility disorder from needy families are a diverse group, experiencing different hardships in accessing information on prevention and risk of infection.
Firstly we shared COVID-19 precautions as per WHO guidelines with them through audio messages with translations in different regional languages like Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, Kannada. The guidelines was shared with the volunteers, who then communicated with the visually impaired in their respective languages either by phone or whatsapp.
We parallelly prepared a list of Visuallyimpaired who were in city, or left for their villages / hometown to stay with parents. We also checked with blind Institute or NGOs about the measures they had taken at the premises and hostel facility. If there was any shortage, we helped fulfill the requirement for hand gloves, masks, and sanitizers with the help of donations. About 600 hand gloves, several masks, sanitizers were distributed prior to lockdown.
We soon realized that that there were quite a lot of visually impaired elderly left alone at home. This prompted us to start assigning phone buddy to each of them to keep track of how they were doing. The buddy would keep the phone numbers of neighbor, maid and local ward ration shop (government outlet) and other helpline numbers to support the visually impaired.
We soon started receiving calls for help from the needy families esp. Mumbai slums for groceries and medicines. The daily wage workers were out of cash and no means to buy essentials. Many times the free food distribution and ration was available but they were unaware of this information. So the buddy volunteer became a very critical part to reach the information or the essential items. Over the last three weeks we have supported at least 200 families to get their ration and essentials.
The Phone Buddy also encourage and motivate the visually impaired to take care of their health and fitness and improve immunity by explaining how to do simple home workouts. This keeps them happy and healthy in these difficult times.
It’s been over 5 year since Dr. Bhumika Patel started providing voluntary support to women and children esp. the Specially-Abled & Visually Impaired across 6 cities in India (Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad). We participate in several events as VI-Guides in Pinkathon, Bengaluru Marathon, Mumbai Marathon etc.
This is sustained as there is a large pool of trained volunteers and guides from IBM and other corporates like Congizant and fitness communities, available for voluntary work on need basis. The team works with individuals and also several Blind Institutions/schools across the country. We work further to strengthen the other soft and hard skills too. This helps in their overall development, providing them access to wider opportunities to grow, thus developing a more inclusive society.
When COVID-19 hit India, we jumped into action to help them prepare for the challenges,even before the lockdown started in India. It is a special concern for Visually Impaired as they mostly rely on touch.
For the training team of guides and regular training girls, we started with a list of Kindness TO DO’s to be done in addition to HomeWORKOUTS and own fitness! This was a big hit with many contributing their time and effort wholeheartedly.
There are Badges to be earned as recognition for the training and acts of Kindness!
This is a special initiative to support the visually impaired athletes during the lockdown due to Covid-19.
The Phone Buddy encourage and motivate the visually impaired to take care of their health and fitness and improve immunity by explaining how to do simple home workouts. This keeps them happy and healthy in these difficult times.
We soon started receiving calls for help from the needy families esp. Mumbai slums for groceries and medicines. The daily wage workers were out of cash and no means to buy essentials. Many times the free food distribution and ration was available but they were unaware of this information. So the buddy volunteer became a very critical part to reach the information or the essential items.
Phone Buddy are of these types:
Buddy for Home workouts
Buddy for Elderly VisuallyImpaired (who are left alone in lockdown)
Buddy for information/education support (free courses/certifications)
Assessment Checklist is used to start working with visuallyimpaired. Please message Bhumika 9845018103 for the same.
For all the above exercise is important to build immunity!
Guide/Phone Buddy To do (Home workouts):
The visuallyImpaired have been training with us for many months now. We will assign a buddy to existing and new visuallyimpaired based on requests.
Get the contact number of Visually impaired(VI) from Bhumika or location lead.
Call the VI at a convenient time .
Confirm the language they are comfortable with(english, hindi etc) , then use the appropriate language chart below.
Find out the percentage blindness.
Check if they are doing fine in lockdown, any other assistance needed, please note and let the lead know to assign one more buddy.
Find out the current workouts they are doing. Make a note of one week’s workout if they are doing already.
As the workout intensity goes up, our rate of infection increases, so our goal is to do moderate exercises without causing too much exhaustion. Give rest days. You are not required to workout all 6 days. Example: 2 days of gentle strength workout + 2 days of yoga, breathing exercise, meditation is fine.
If Vi doesn’t have smart phone or whatsapp, just a verbal communication is enough. If they do have, you can ask for video or picture if they are fine.
To do these workout, the VI will need:
A sturdy chair or wall nearby for support, so they dont lose balance and fall
A yoga mat or bed sheet for post workout sitting stretches
Water bottle filled with your favorite fruit juice or lime juice with salt/sugar
Supportive shoes if you choose to use them in your workout
Light hand weights or two water bottles or cans of the same weight
Small to medium towel.
Note :If vi is partially blind, they can also read the charts we give them, we just have to read and clarify once. Give the chart on whatsapp.
If 100% then more support then they will need extra support or guidance.Ask if a family member is available else stick to simple to do workout close to wall or chair to hold.
Here are some tips to explain to you assigned VI ON THE CALL
1. If you are not currently exercising, start by walking one door to another door at home, for 20 mins, (for at least 2 weeks) to get used to exercise. You can do 2-3 times a week.
IF you are already exercising regularly and walking feels too easy, then you can start by jog-Walk method. Jog to nearest door and walk back..so on for 30 mins.You can do 2-3 times a week.
Guide Buddy Please note down current workout of VI in a week. We will use it to make customized plan.
This is a special initiative to support the visually impaired athletes during the lockdown due to Covid-19.
Empowering VisuallyImpaired & Beyond 