Shiv Mandir of Atlanta serves hundreds
at its First Health and Wellness fair
By Mahadev Desai
Photo by Kiran Mudigonda – ShivMandir-Atlanta

Continuing and excelling in its effort to serve the Atlanta community, Shiv Mandir of Atlanta in collaboration with SAI Health Fair and Georgia Association of Physicians of Indian Heritage (GAPI) held its first laudable Health and Wellness Fair, at the Impact Center, Global Mall, Norcross, Georgia on Sunday, June 3, 2012.

Over 300 people of diverse nationalities and cultures including South Asians, Caucasians, African Americans and Hispanics from all over Atlanta availed the opportunity of free health screening, consultation and tests provided by over 30 dedicated physicians representing 15 specialties including Internal Medicine, Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Endocrinology, Ob/Gyn, Dentistry, ophthalmology, Nephrology, Dermatology, Physical Therapy, and Chiropractic Many were able to consult more than one physician and specialty. Over 60 service-oriented and courteous volunteers of the Shiv Mandir attended to the various health related concerns of the attendees.

Sunny Duddilla;Dr.Abhishek Gaur;Alok Gupta; Dr.Sujatha Reddy and Dr.Devashish Ray

At the entrance of the Impact Center, a decorated stage with a picture of Lord Shiva and a murti of Shri Ganesha added a religious touch to the event. On one side of the entrance there was a stall with a big screen TV with continuous presentations of Shiv Mandir running on it. The registration desk had four volunteers, all set to register the people who had lined up as early as 7.30 am. The spacious and well- lighted hall, partitioned into three sections had neatly laid out tables, and comfortable seating arrangements for the attendees. All the stations had clearly visible signs to avoid any confusion and each station was manned by a minimum two volunteers of Shiv Mandir. Many young volunteers/high school students were busy helping the organizers. Breakfast/ snacks were arranged for the participants to break their fast after the blood work.
The doors of the hall were opened at 8.00 am after the invocation of Lord Ganesha by Pt .Gyan Prakash Upadhyay. The participants were registered and sent inside to the triage area. There were five Triage stations, where students from Mercer University were taking history and vitals of the participants. Those seeking blood work were then directed to the Lab Registration desk where six dedicated volunteers were cheerfully serving the participants. For comprehensive blood test including PSA and HBA1c, which was provided by American Clinical Lab., Stone Mountain, there was a minimal charge of just $ 25.00. There were three stations for drawing the blood samples where qualified nurses/ phlebotomists were drawing blood. Over 200 blood samples were collected. While this article was being written, the participants had already begun receiving their lab results in mail. Those, whose lab results indicated life threatening situations, were reported to the participants within 48 hours. There were 3 separate booths for EKGs where over 120 EKGs were carried out by staff technicians from Cardio Vascular Group, Lawrenceville, Commerce Cardiology Group, Commerce, and North Georgia Cardiology Group, Gainsville and were reviewed on the spot by participating cardiologists. Over 40 Glaucoma screening tests and over 50 hearing screenings were performed. Bone Mineral Density screening tests were in big demand and more than 31 bone-density tests were performed. The physicians, nurses and volunteers treated all with compassion and courtesy.
AT & T Oasis took the commendable initiative of conducting a Bone Marrow Drive, while Naturopathy and Ayurveda expert Dr.Satish Nair of Gentle Awakening gave advice on Ayurveda.
Marjorie Sen, Mercer University’s student Generation Rx Committee Chair and Rho Chi honor society member,comented ,"I loved volunteering at the Shiv Mandir health fair! I came with Mercer Pharmacy's American Pharmacists Association (APhA) student group - we helped with medication counseling, education on various topics, and taking blood pressure".

The Shiv Mandir volunteers were extremely busy dealing with participants in utmost compassion, courtesy and the desire to help. The committee members put their heart in their work and service during the fair and were seen conducting the fair in a smooth and pleasant manner. Various sponsors like Gautam Joshi of Discount pharmacy,Harish Thadani of C&A Insurance and Ms.Gladys Paul of Camellia Home Health Hospice, were seen addressing the participants and counseling. Breakfast for everyone was sponsored by Dr. Supriti Balyan and lunch for all the volunteers and providers was sponsored by Ravi Medical Supply. Greater Atlanta Telugu Association was also one of the community sponsors and was represented by Satya Narayan Reddy and some volunteers.


Dr. Devashish Ray, the elated President of Shiv Mandir of Atlanta, commented, “This is the first ever Shiv Mandir organized Health fair. Shiv Mandir has been very active in organizing various religious and social events for several years. Each event has been a great success due to the spontaneous outpouring of support from the society and the indefatigable sacrifice and hard work of our committee members. The support and love from our society has been so tremendous, we all feel very indebted. I am very pleased that the Health Fair has been conducted very successfully. All the Kudos goes to our hardworking volunteers who contributed so much of their time and energy for this and to all the participants who attended and blessed our effort. Our Health Fair Planning Committee members, Alok Gupta, Ram Shahani, Dr. Supriti Balyan, Sunny Dudilla and Shyam Gupta have been working on this for past couple of months.” He added, “I would also like to congratulate and thank our organizing partners Sai Health Fair and GAPI. Dr. Sujatha Reddy and GAPI president Abhishek Gaur who have been instrumental in planning and organizing the fair. We also thank India Tribune and Sadhu Vaswani Group for providing their office space, and all our generous sponsors who graced the occasion and helped us. The huge turnout at the event is an indicator that there is a strong need of such health fair in the community and Shiv Mandir of Atlanta will strive to conduct quality health fairs year after year to make our community healthier and happier. I urge everyone to support the construction of our New Shiv mandir that is coming up in Sugar Hill, which once built, will enable us to serve the community in a better way.”