IAGB Spotlight
‘Life is full of possibilities’, we often say. And Girish Mehta is a person who is supremely interested in finding out possibilities and converting them into opportunity. He is also an organizer who brings together people and institutions to deliver services to meet crucial and yet sometimes unrecognized needs of the community.
IAGB does have a longstanding relationship with Girishji and Indian Circle for Caring USA, Inc., the organization he helped establish. In fact, the announcement of the establishment of this organization came during IAGB’s India Day celebrations in 2007. ICC and Girishji have been recognized for community service by IAGB in 2015 and 2018.
Today ICC’s work is spread across 17 states within the US and the organization is predominantly known for its ‘Family Support Services’ – the help with urgent and emergency needs. Although that is not all that ICC does. Over the years they also have gone a step ahead and created resources and programs to help people prepare for critical life events. . As part of this initiative, nearly 100 workshops throughout the USA and thousands of ‘Five Wishes™’ documents have been provided to community members which serve as a Health Care Proxy and Living Will. At this juncture the ICC team identified a new possibility – making the community members aware of the inherent risks to their health and helping them avert these challenges to make their lives better!
Evidence has shown that South Asians including Indians are at three times the risk of heart disease than the larger community within the US and 50% of heart attacks are experienced before the age of 55. Also, they are four more times likely to be diagnosed with diabetes compared to other ethnic and racial groups. This led ICC to join hands with California based South Asian Heart Center to offer a proven structured program with documented results to the South Asian community over the past 15 years. The ‘AIM to Prevent™’ program recognizes the inherent higher risk of diabetes and heart disease as epidemics and attempts to manage these through sustainable lifestyle changes. Once participants enroll for the program they are offered comprehensive screening and risk analysis, personalized recommendations, and education and coaching from lifestyle experts. Through ICC’s efforts over 15 prominent experts have joined hands to educate and provide deeper understanding to the risks and ways to mitigate them. ICC is providing additional guidance in improving lifestyle through four pillars – reducing stress through meditation, exercise, nutritious diet, and good quality restorative sleep! To date, over 120 participants have joined and are receiving measurable benefits for better health.
Girish Mehta and his team are working relentlessly to increase the number of participants in the lifestyle program through the wide network of organizational relationships they have built over the years. SEWA International helped take their ‘Family Support Services’ across the nation and South Asian Heart Center helped them bring the ‘Lifestyle Program’ home in New England states. Finding out new avenues of service has apparently become a habit more than a chance.
For more information visit www.ouricc.org. If you want to get involved, write to [email protected].