IACA

Mr. Girish Modi has been able to capture and present us the video tribute to late PV Rao. You will have to click on the Play button twice.

Click on Read the rest of this entry link to see video tribute of Sasikala and Ravi Penumarti
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We have some of the best health professionals in our community yet we see more and more Indian people particularly the new immigrants smoke and cause damage to themselves and to their families. I am not sure if it is for stress or for fashion.

Many of us know about Dr. Deepak Chopra. He is listed as one of the top 100 heroes of the 20th century by Time magazine. One time I had the chance to listen to his live speech. During the speech he mentioned how he used to get stressed out in his job as a practicing medical doctor and as the head of the Boston Regional Medical Center. Dr. Chopra had the habit of smoking one or more cigarette packs a day. The course of his life got changed when he stumbled upon transcendental meditation and the rest is history. I am not sure what leads people to these habits, but not every one is like Dr. Deepak Chopra to give up the habit. If you or one of your loved ones is a victim of this habit, you need to get serious. There are all kinds of help from the State and from the community. I am associated with various state ad campaigns, the most I like is the Fulton County Smokefree coalition ad message. Our community should benefit from the advise of our concerned health experts and the resources made available to them by taxpayer dollars.

Please see this article from our Health Promotion Program Manager of Fulton County Board of Health, Dr. Nazeera Dawood. She explains the need for a regiment in helping people quit smoking. It is based on her all round experience in clinical practice, health research, smoking cessation programs and policy development.

My life has been with learning experiences from several perspectives of the medical industry. Even though the experience has helped me conceptualize clinical medicine, public health and research perspectives on the deadliest voluntary behavior, I never understood the urge to smoke. Maybe it’s because I come from a non-smoking family where we always identified smoking as a risky behavior. It has always puzzled me as to why someone would want to smoke something that contains more than 4000 noxious chemicals.

When I practiced medicine in India, the patients who continued to smoke despite all sorts of cessation approaches, frustrated me. I felt I wasn’t doing something right. Surely there must be some way I could help them help themselves.

So when I entered the academic clinical research sector at Emory University, I was eager to join a team investigating smoking and health. One of our studies, that included patients from the Grady Health System, found that six months after suffering from a heart attack, more than half of patients continue to smoke. I was shocked. Not even a heart attack could compel them to change their behavior.

Most surprisingly, the same study revealed that cessation programs work much better than health care professionals telling patients to quit. This does not mean that physicians should stop advising patients to stop smoking. It means we need both: physicians should keep offering advice plus they need to refer patients to smoking cessation programs. In other words, patients need a regiment, not just a reminder.

My solution to the needs of the Georgia patients seemed simple. After wrapping up the study, I advocated for a smoking cessation program within the Grady Health System. The only glitch: I was immediately told that I went out of bounds. Apparently, my role as a clinical researcher is limited to the data. I had to hope that someone else would take the ball and ran with it.

As luck would have it, I got the opportunity to do exactly what I wanted when I became a public health professional in Georgia. In my new role, away from number-crunching and into the community, I tried to do what health officials should do: change the social climate and promote a supportive environment. I pushed for smoke-free zones and other policies to protect individuals from second hand smoke exposure. But even this community-based approach, alone, isn’t enough.

By now, I had seen each perspective working in different angles. The doctor’s perspective — the individual approach. The research perspective—the quantitative approach. The public health perspective—regulations. The problem as I realized was the splintering of duties and not enough interdisciplinary work. We have worked on siloed approach for years and we still seem to have smokers.

And it’s not just the smokers. There is no denying that second-hand smoke causes cancers, heart disease, asthma, and other diseases. The CDC estimates second-hand smoke causes 46,000 heart disease deaths and 3,400 lung cancer deaths among American non-smokers each year.

Now is the time to take a synergized approach involving the entire community, and by that I mean physicians, public health professionals, businesses, researchers, smokers and non-smokers.

Only when we get everyone on the playing field, can we finally get the home-run we all need: Fewer people smoke, fewer people sick from second-hand smoke and improved public health for the whole community.

Resources:
• http://archinte.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=414515
• http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/osh/index.htm
• http://www.breatheeasyfulton.org
• Free Nicotine Replacement Therapy for Uninsured Adults in Georgia

Many community leaders came to IACA to pay tribute to late Dr. P.V. Rao. In attendence was his daughter Saleena Dakin. The event was organized by IACA – in partnership with other local organizations and media partners on Saturday Feb 9th, 2013 at 2:00 PM

The event was photographed by Mr. Girish Modi. To see the full slide show of pictures please click here

Some of the pictures are listed below- please add your comments:

Jan 28th, 2012 Invitation
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IACA Valentines day was a grand success! Here are the event photos taken by Girish Bhai..
Click here or on the picture see the slide show

Previous Post:
IACA Valentines Day Party – All are invited

Celebration of Love – A Valentine’s Party – By your favorite organization
When - SUNDAY FEB-17 @ 630 PM EST
Venue - Palace Indian Restaurant
Tickets - Till Feb 13th:Adult/ Child (5-10 yrs): $25/$10, Children under 5: FREE
After Feb 13th and at door:Adult/ Child: $30/$15
Book Online – https://www.addate.com/iaca/events/ValentinesDay/PalaceRestaurant.aspx
10% Discount only for IACA members – Use discount code MEMBER
( Non members who use this code will be given discount but will get charged with IACA membership fee for singles)

Check for affiliate discounts on community DJ’s and photographer Facebook pages and social media groups.
PS – Buy your tickets in advance to avoid sell-out ahead of the event from organizers in the flyer.

It was a relaxing day watching the superb performance of Run For Your Wife drama enacted by our good friends at IACA this Saturday Feb 2nd, 2013.

It is Ray Connie’s hilarious story of London cab driver, John Smith, with two wives, two lives and a very precise schedule for juggling them both.. Trouble brews when Smith is mugged and ends up in hospital, where both of his addresses surface, causing the police to investigate. Having upset his schedule, Smith becomes hopelessly entangled in his attempts with his lazy layabout neighbor, to explain himself to his wives and two suspicious police officers – This story was ably adapted to a drama, produced and directed by Shyam Yellamraju. The incredible backstage volunteers Padma, Ramakanth, Krishnaveni, Laxmi Vedala, Satluru and others were behind the scene making all the arrangements for the event to be a grand success!

Enjoy the pictures from Girish Modiji and add your comments:

Fantastic performance by all the actors in the order of their appearance:
Nivedita Garabadu: Mary Smith – Middle aged wife of taxi driver
Fazleen Sohani: Barbara Smith – Middle aged wife of taxi driver
Swaroop Nyshadham: John Smith – Middle aged taxi driver
Shouvik Ganguly: Detective Sergeant Troughton -Strict London Policeman
Sam Prasadh: Bumbling Neighbor – Middle aged unemployed
Moiz Husain: Detective Sergeant Porterhouse – London Policeman
Kamal Satuluru: Press Reporter

Please click here to see the slide show of all pictures by Girish Modiji

Mr. Girish Modi has been able to capture and present us the wonderful videos of the Republic Day Festivities at IACA which was held on Jan 26th, 2013

Enjoy the videos and click on the link below the video to see next segments

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Mr. Girish is rendering great service to the community by offering media and journalism services. Here are some pictures taken by Girish.

Slide show Click Here

Enjoy the pictures and add your comments:

26th January 2013 Speech

Topics
   Opening
   Why the constitution?
   What were the challenges facing the framers
   What were the Goals of the framers?
   What are the Key Achievements – Key strengths of the Constitution?
   Other Unique Features
   The future
   Conclusion

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We had a fantastic republic day event at IACA with over 150 people attending the event. Wonderful entertainment by talented kids and excellent talk on the resiliency of the Indian Constitution by Dr. Rashid Naim. Talk by Indian Counsel Rajinder Singh and by Devesh Mathur of Novelis were well received. Please check the IACA website for the event pictures and attendee comments . Our next event is on Feb 2nd, the hilarious drama “Run for Your Wife”. Use discount code MEMBER and STUDENT for online ticket discounts. Click here to book your tickets. If you have community, business or personal websites click here to add a promotional link for this event.

Enjoy the pictures from Venkat Kutua and add your comments:

For more pictures and slideshow
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“Dont Mind, (Bura Na Mano) “Holi Hai”
“Rang barse bhige chunar wali, rang barse o rang barse bhige chunar wali”
We cant intoxicate you on Bhaang..”how sad” but we surely can on your favorite numbers. What’s your Favorite Holi number?

Fun, Music and lots of bright colors. Smear each other with washable paints and throw colored water on each other.

“Join Us” “Join us” “If you can’t, you must. If you must, you can.”

Food and snacks sold by Indian Restaurants – Bollywood Music By DJ TigerJ – Color and Sprinklers can be purchased at the event

Free admission to everyone – Become an IACA member today https://www.addate.com/iaca/membership/iacamember.aspx