In August 2017, our trustee Jo Fox and her 10 year old son Oliver visited our partner clinic in Nagpur. The purpose of their visit was to meet Ruchita, the now 13 year old girl they have been sponsoring with The Pendsey Trust for 3 or 4 years. Another reason for their visit was to look or potential funding opportunities.
Most people living with T1D in the western world are familiar with Frio UK and the range of bags they make, which keep insulin cool in extreme temperatures for 45 hours, without the use of electricity or refrigeration. Lasting 5 times longer than ice packs, these light-weight bags are a convenient way to keep medication cool when away from home. Oliver has 2 Frio bags, so of course with the heat in India in August in the high 30’s they used them to keep insulin safe whilst travelling about India. The bags are activated by soaking them in a small amount of water for a few minutes every few days, so Jo and Oliver would simply reactivate them in the hotel room when needed.
At our partner clinic The Dream Trust, Jo spent a few days meeting children who have been supported by The Pendsey Trust, learning about the problems they face and how these can be alleviated. Jo & Oliver met many recipients of the fridge project, where fridges were funded for those patients who could not otherwise afford to buy one. This project was a great success and helped many, but of course, the real problem was that many of the most needy families live in shanty towns and have no electricity or running water in their accommodation. One mum was bagging with Jo, asking how can she keep her sons insulin cool, How can these patients keep their insulin cool?
Frio bags appear to be the answer. Lightweight and portable, needing no electricity and only a small amount of water every few days, the children can activate these at school if needed and no longer face the problem of their insulin going off. Upon their return, Jo & Oliver contacted Frio UK and explained the situation. In this case, a Frio bag would not be a luxury or a convenient alternative, but a lifesaving and sustainable solution to a potentially fatal problem. Thankfully, Frio UK agreed and kindly donated 200 bags to The Pendsey Trust. We can not wait to get these to India and start posting pictures and stories of how they are helping. In order to do this, we need your help getting the bags out there, we have set up a crowdfunding page below.
To purchase Frio bags, please use this link as The Pendsey trust will get a small commission at no extra cost to you http://amzn.to/2DYqheXÂ
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/send-cooler-bags-to-save-livesÂ
Our press release on this story:
https://www.prlog.org/12690214-indian-children-provided-with-life-saving-cooler-bags.html