The Festival of Globe (FOG) has been conducting Health Fairs as part of its India Day and other fairs for several years. Founder and Convener, Dr. Romesh Japra, who is a well-known cardiologist in the Bay Area, has been volunteering his services for free at such events along with other doctors since his early days as a physician both in India and the United States.
This year, the Health Fair, held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, August 19, brought together doctors and wellness professionals from different branches of healing.
The participating allopathic physicians were:
Dr. Japra, Dr. Monish Sodhi and Naresh Sodhi from Pacific Cardiology Associates in Fremont
The doctors and nurses from Kaiser Stroke Department led by Shailesh Suchak, RN
The medical staff of Bay Area Community Health (BACH), also one of the sponsors
Dr. Kapil Chopra – psychiatrist
Dentist Dr. Sheila Dobee of Your Caring Dentist in Fremont and visiting doctors from India, both gynecologists, Dr. Sangeeta Khare who practices in Bhopal and Allahabad, and Dr. Malati Ramani from Chennai.
On the holistic and alternative medicine side, the event had:
Dr. Misha Sharma of Grace Ayurveda, who also happens to be a gastroenterologist
University of East-West Medicine, which teaches and provides medical services in Acupuncture and other Traditional Chinese Medicine techniques
Anita Srivastava, Founder of Happiness Factors, an AI-powered mental wellness company that combines the best of the East and the West such as meditation, yoga, neuro-linguistic programming, hypnotherapy and other modalities.
The Health Fair was coordinated by its Vice President, Lakshmi Iyer, and Sujata Shrivastava, along with a dedicated team of volunteers. The Girl Scouts of Troop 2220, led by Pavani Paruchuri, were immensely effective in assisting the Health Fair participants.
Many people stopped by the booths to receive free basic checkups, blood pressure and sugar readings, acupuncture sessions, advice on different aspects of healthcare, and tips to battle anxiety and other psychological issues. Bay Area Community Health had a truck parked at the site for all two days of the fair and offered free vision checkups.
Just before the Fair ended, Dr. Japra honored all the participating professionals on stage. Expressing his gratitude to all of them, he said, “We are very, very thankful because one message we are going to get to the world out there. We are not only here to achieve our American Dream or make money.
We also care. Caring is very, very much part of our culture. Our Hindu ethos means that we care about others. “Vasudeva kutumbakam, loka samasta sukhino bhavantu … (The world is one family, may people everywhere be happy).
“So we want to make sure everybody is happy, everybody is prosperous, everybody is healthy. Health is very, very important. That’s the new definition of richness… is good health.”
Lakshmi Iyer applauded the example of selfless service that Dr. Japrahas set and added, “Without health, you have nothing. You can’t have this mela, you can’t have anything.”
The doctors and wellness experts expressed their happiness in being a part of the event.
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