CHICAGO: Though the 35th Health Fair in all, this one as in the past 25 years was held at Midwest Swami Narayan Temple in Itasca, a northwest Chicago suburb. It was organized by a group of community activists headed by Jatnaibhai Thakkar.
It was a huge success with a sizeable participation from healthcare professionals and volunteers. It was conducted on Sunday, September 14 in the main and the dining halls of the temple and it provided free medical checkup for more than 350 participants.
The event had sponsors in the Swaminarayan Temple, Lohana Association of Greater Chicago, Gujarati Samaj of Chicago and Kadva Patidar Same. The goal was to provide medical check up to all those who may not be able to afford medical service due to insurance and medical coverage problems.
More than 21 doctors and 100 Health care professionals provided their volunteer services on this day. Vital data such as height, weight, blood pressure, pulse, were checked for each participant. The blood sugar testing and consultation were provided by Kishore Chugh, Vivek Patel, Arti Thakkar, Amisha Mehta, Jalpa Patel and Tejas Patel.
Volunteers were seen very busy at the blood draw tables. Blood samples of 325 patients were collected and sent to the UIC laboratory for testing. The report will be reviewed by doctors and will be mailed to each patient within three weeks. Urine analysis was performed by a group of dedicated volunteers.
Six EKG machines were used to provide EKG for males and females over age 55 and continually operated by many volunteers. Physical examination and physical consultation were provided by primary care physician doctors including Dr. Ashok Shah, Dr. Jayashree Raju, Dr. Pratimaben Shah and Dr Yogesh Parikh. Dental examination and consultation were provided by Dr. Nita Patel and Dr. Neha Sheth.
Presentation on Nutritional, Diet and Diabetes education was made by Darshana Vyas and Diptiben Shah. Many people participated and asked many questions.
Bone density test was performed for women over age of 45. The bone density testing was done by Ranjana Shah and Carla Zang. Mammogram and Peps registration was done by Sarah Rao and William Wu from Xilin Association in Naperville, eye screening and consultation were provided by Dr. Jigna Joshi. Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) consultation was provided by Dr. Ramesh Patel.
Chiropractic exam were performed by Dr. Kalpesh Ghelani. Physical therapy was presented by Dr. Vimi Thakkar, Nitul Thakkar and Ankur Patel. Hearing testing was performed by Dr. Chandra Dachepalli. Many people got benefited.
This Year, Acupressure treatment was provided by Chimanbhai Bheda and Hansaben Soneji. Many people were interested in this treatment and found it very satisfactory. Su-Jok Therapy was provided by Smita Shah and Saloni Shah.
A long line was seen for these services. Many people received information and consultation. This year Flu shots were given to 250 patients. The Health Fair was well organized and went very smoothly. Many happy faces were seen that they received the medical services they needed at one place without any cost to them.
This is the 25th year that Jayantibhai Thakkar has been coordinating Health Fair in various temples in Chicagoland area. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of Health Fair, Rekha Shah from West Suburban Bank from Bloomingdale, IL provided t-shirts for all volunteers. The Temple provided tea, coffee, gotta and light food to all patients and lunch for volunteers. Jayantibhai Thakkar thanked all volunteers.
Jayanti Oza
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