CHICAGO: The Indian American Medical Association Charitable Foundation of Chicago (IAMACF) has slated holding its annual 2016 Charity Gala on Saturday, April 16 starting at 5:30pm at the Waterford Banquet Hall, in Elmhurst, a suburb of Chicago.
This year’s keynote speaker is Dr Jay Bhatt, Chief Health Officer of the Illinois Health and Hospital Association. The Master of Ceremony is Ravi Baichwal of ABC Channel 7 Chicago and live entertainment is provided by Malhar Orchestra of Rohit Parikh and Group.
Established in 1994, the IAMACF is a not-for-profit tax-exempt organization and it runs a free community health clinic. It has been providing primary healthcare on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am to 2 pm for over 20 years at its 2645 W. Peterson Avenue location in Chicago. The community clinic is run by volunteer physicians from area hospitals and private practices, including IAMA and its Charitable Foundation.
It is also a teaching clinic for medical students from six local medical schools, and student activities coordinated by New Life Volunteer Services. Together, the IAMACF free clinic provides medical services on a walk-in basis serving an extremely low-income segment of the area’s population, who are uninsured and underserved with no other affordable or culturally competent alternative medical facilities to serve their healthcare needs.
The IAMACF annual charity gala helps raise the funds required to keep the clinic running for a year, allowing it to serve almost 3000 people annually, pay for medical laboratory testing and provide a limited number of pharmaceutical medications to all those in need. The IAMACF community health clinic is located in an area that is home to one of the largest culturally diverse immigrant and refugee communities in the city and state, which unfortunately, also happens to be one of the most underserved.
Chris Zala
