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Maryland Gurdwara Hosts a Health Fair and Career Consultations for youth

Washington, October 14, 2011: Leading Indian physicians from across the Washington area converged recently to give their free advice at a health fair at one of the gurdwaras in Washington area. Organized and hosted by the Indian American Medical Association (IAMA) and Guru Gobind Singh Foundation , this health fair turned out to be one of the largest outreach efforts by the Indian doctors to the community at large.

During this fair held at the facility of Guru Gobind Singh Foundation in Rockville, Maryland, over 30 well known area physicians and medical professionals were present to support the event. 60 volunteers, mostly youth assisted in every aspect of the health fair. Over 150 community members from all across the Washington area took benefit of the health advice, screening and free flu shots. Many elderly individuals were seen going table to table to get advice from physicians and they appreciated that the consultations were conducted without much time constraints and atmosphere was cordial. Shady Grove Adventist Hospital in Rockville sent its own volunteer group to participate in this operation.

One of the other highlights was free 90 flu shots that were offered to the community. Many people came ahead of the start time to get their name on the list.

Dr. Sudhir Sekhsaria, a leading allergy specialist and the president of IAMA and Ravi Singh, president of a healthcare IT Company and a member of Guru Gobind Singh Foundation, coordinated the entire operation of bringing the medical experts and volunteers to make this initiative a grand success.

Dr Sudhir Sekhsaria said, “Our focus was elderly and indigenous population. The twenty specializations included in the health fair were Allergy, Cancer , Cardiology , Dermatology , Diabetes , Dietitian, ENT, Gastroenterology, Ophthalmology, Orthopedics, Pediatrics, Physical Therapy, Plastics, Primary Care, Screening Services, Social Services, Thyroid, Travel Medicine, Urology, and Yoga. Various screening tests were conducted including lung function, hearing, body mass index, grip, blood pressure and others.”

He added, “What makes it a unique health fair is that besides 20 leading specialists for counseling, there was a Yoga Session with Live yoga lessons and Counseling for Medical, Dental and Pharmacy school admissions with a seminar.”

Ravi Singh said, “The other group we wanted to focus was our youth. Two areas we identified for this group were volunteer work to support the Health Fair, getting the youth involved in doing community service, and brining some well known counselors to provide advice to the youth on getting admission to the medical, dental and pharmacy schools in the US. Around 20 school and college going youth took advantage of counseling for admissions to medical, dental, and pharmacy schools. ”

Mr. Rajan Narayanan, a well know yoga instructor was on hand to answer various yoga related questions and conducted a full 60 minute live yoga session. He taught the audience various yoga exercises for a healthy living for mind, body and soul. The session was a big hit with a full hall and demand for more sessions in the future.

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Maryland Gurdwara Hosts a Health Fair and Career Consultations for youth From left: Mrs. Harjinder Malhotra, Dr. Baljit Singh Moonga, Dr. Sudhir Sekhsaria, Dr. Gagan Singh, Dr. Vijay Varma, Ravi Singh, Dr. Harminder Sethi, Dr. Harvinder Singh, Dr. Ameet Singh, Dr. Balbir Singh, Dr. Jaspal Ahluwalia, Dr. Sharon Ahluwalia, Dr. Jatinder Sekhon, and Dr. Rajwant Singh
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Dr. Harvinder Singh and Dr. Harminder Singh Sethi


Dr. Reena Jha from Georgetown, Dr. Baljit Singh Moonga from NIH, and medical and pharmarcy school students Kunal Angra and Natasha Chopra provided the counseling for high school and college students about Medical, Dental and Pharmacy school admission process. Dr. Jha and Dr. Moonga also conducted a group session for the students to address specific admissions questions.

Dr Seksaria added, “Our special thanks to all the physicians, medical professionals, volunteers, GGSF board of directors, head priest of GGSF and management for everything they did to make this event a success. We look forward to seeing everyone at the Health Fair 2012.”

Sarabjit Singh Sidhu, Chairman of Guru Gobind Singh Foundation, said, “We thank all the medical experts for this kind gesture of providing their free advice to the community at large. This shows that they have a kind heart and have a desire to make a difference in the lives of so many people. May God bless them and give them the wisdom to continue this noble work."

Dr. Rajwant Singh, Secretary of GGSF, also thanked and said, “Many members of Indian community and American society took advantage of this initiative. It is an important step taken by the Indian medical community to offer their help in the face of challenges in the health care in this country. Doing this at a religious sanctuary certainly adds the moral component. We will continue to pray that this kind of volunteer work is repeated at other places and in other temples and Gurdwaras.”

Indian American Medical Association is based in the Washington area and it brings together 300 medical professionals for networking, educational and community activities.

Guru Gobind Singh Foundation
13814 Travilah Road, Rockville, MD 20850
www.ggsfusa.com

 

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