The South Asian Cardiovascular Center at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, the first center of its kind in the Midwest, celebrated its Third Annual Red Sari Event March 12 at Macy’s in downtown Chicago.
The event is organized each year by members of the South Asian Cardiovascular Center to increase awareness of the risk & increasing prevalence of heart disease in the South Asian community. Shoeb Sitafalawala, director of the SACC, has pioneered the efforts of SACC by engaging Chicago-based restaurants and businesses to educate and promote healthy preventive strategies for overcoming the innumerable deaths caused by heart disease and focusing on preventive strategies specifically targeted to South Asian Indian community.
The event was emceed by Chicago’s ABC news anchor Ravi Baichwal who was been personally impacted by the loss of his father to heart disease and has been an ardent supporter of the SACC since its inception.
Dr. Leo Kelly Chief Medical Officer and VP of Advocate Lutheran General Medical Management personally thanked Sitafalawala for his pioneering work in creating the first SACC. “The SACC has engaged the South Asian Community through place of worship, community centers, local government agencies and even restaurants and groceries stores. The initiative has taught us about models for population health and that we cannot have pre-conceived notions on how to institute lasting change and that sustainable change must be surrounded by listening to community.”
Vince Bufalino, senior vice president of Cardiovascular Services, implored the community to take action because “the South Asian community is at an extraordinary risk for heart disease, something we did not know when I was training. We now have an opportunity to find people early, intervene and save a life, save a family and make a difference. We need each of you to take this message back to your community, friends and family.”
Julie Morita, Commissioner of Chicago Department of Public Health spoke about role of the Chicago Department of Public Health in the prevention of heart disease, “Our goals cannot be achieved on our own and that is why it’s so important for us to be here, we hope to partner with the community and develop our health plan focusing on the health disparity which exists in the South Asian community.”
Abhi Dhar, CEO of Walgreens and honorary chair of the SACC, talked about the impact of heart disease he had on his personal life personally, and the loss of friends and family. “The stakes were just too high for me to not get involved.”
The speakers were followed by the highlight of the evening an elegant and beautiful fashion show coordinated by none other than Chicago’s Sahil boutique under the guidance of Bhavesh Patel.
Sahil boutique a major sponsor of the Red Sari Evening was originally established in 1991 with a passion for creativity and innovation in the fashion industry by Nirmala and Babu Patel; today it has become Chicago’s premiere boutique for Indian fashion and with their son Bhavesh has elevated it to landmark status in the US and Indian fashion industries.
The event was supported by Illinois State Legislators Rep. Mike McAuliffe; Rep. Dave Harris; Sen. Julie Morrison; Rep. Marty Moylan; Sen Matt Murphy, and Rep Michelle Mussman. The Illinois State Resolution 1463 has declared March 12 as the State of Illinois Red Sari Day for cardiovascular disease awareness.
Among the other important guests and dignitaries were Nirav Shah, Director of Illinois Department of Public Health; Hardik Bhatt, Chief Information Officer of the State of Illinois and Ausaf Sayeed, Consul General of India in Chicago.
Last year, the center’s initiatives focused on working with four restaurants, Curry Bowl, Gaylord, Viceroy and Mysore Woodlands, who agreed to follow the healthy guidelines in the preparation of food, , specifically decreasing the amount salt and oil in preparation. This year brand “Saheb” which delineates restaurants who participate in this initiative has received commitment from four more restaurants, including Bombay Wraps, Tandoor Char House, Tiffin and Udupi Palace.
In addition, the center has launched a new educational initiative with the largest provider of Indian groceries in the nation, Patel Brothers. The grocery store chain, which has aggressively grown across Midwest and now is a national player, will participate in the educational initiatives by displaying educational health fact information across its stores across the US.
“Our focus for next 10 years in Chicagoland is to take the prevalence of cardiovascular disease down from 10.7 to 9.7, which is bold statement. We are building infrastructure through community outreach, digital marketing and aligning with corporations. If we can educate the companies that serve the South Asian consumer base, everything can start shifting to healthier community,” he said.
“There is still a lot of work needs to be done on the awareness end, but we also need to start taking action in the preventive policy right now the prevention guidelines don’t account for the South Asian risk, in the UK they do, so that’s a big issue. We need to dictate policy that changes the way physician practice, insurance companies reimburse preventive care healthcare organization hold government agencies responsible, and mandate ethnic based tracking for ethnic based categories”, Sitafalawala said.
The post Third Annual Red Sari Event Seeks Better Awareness About Heart Disease appeared first on News India Times.