Three Generations Have Fun Together at IACF’s Desi Grandparents Day
Click here for photo collage
By Jawahar Malhotra
HOUSTON: Under the gaze of a doting grandparent, with their steadying hand on the shoulder and a word of encouragement whispered in the ear, young kids and their parents came as three generations together to have some fun and get some expert medical advice at the first Desi Grandparents Day held this past Saturday, July 26 at India House. This first ever event was organized by the Indo American Charity Foundation under their Senior Care and Healthcare initiatives.
“Interest for the event was high from the beginning,” said IACF President Ramesh Cherivirala who had championed the effort by joining hands with the India Senior Citizens Association to hold the event at the same day and time as the ISCA’s monthly meeting. It allowed the seniors to add an entertaining and educational dimension to their regular event. ISCA’s President Arvind Patel and coordinator Ravi Arora helped pull the event together and spread the word for the seniors. The DGPD event ended with the ISCA regular meeting from noon till 2pm followed by lunch sponsored by Dr. Arun Banker and family.
According to Cherivirala, almost 300 people attended the morning-long event from 9 to noon that featured an outdoors Spoon and Lemon race in which both the elderly and grandkids participated and a couple of air mattress Moon Walks, while the musical chairs was held inside. Both generations excitedly tried to win the competitions, encouraging each other along with peals of laughter.
The S&L race was won by Harshi Desai and Raju Kadakia with Aaska and Sushila Mistry in second place. The musical Chairs were won by Bhavya and Ranjana Arora, with Vihaan Patel and Anil Amin coming in second.
The morning started with a filling breakfast of upma, idlis, muffins, coffee, juice and bananas sponsored by Madras Pavilion restaurant of Sugar Land and arranged by IACF Director Alpa Shah. Other activities included face painting and paintings made by the youngsters for their grandparents in one of the rooms in India House and organized by IACF Director Neeta Balsaver. Several items were raffled off and all the elderly got free pillboxes as door prizes.
Apart from the fun and games, the young people were able to show their concern for the welfare of their elderly by taking them to one of six medical diagnostic booths arranged inside the main hall, which offered screenings and advise on several topics, all of which was arranged by IACF Director Dr. Mahendra Jain who brought together other professionals to provide their expertise.
Jain’s Houston Methodist Primary Care group partnered with Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital to provide blood pressure screening, general consultation and fielded questions from the elderly. They also provided giveaways. including a tote bag with a water bottle and bandaids to each of the attendees. “The Hospital was so impressed by the response that they have already signed on to participate next year,” said Jain afterwards. “We will also have a more local physicians attending with us next year.”
In addition, there was osteoporosis screening and general pharmacy questions provided by Randall’s/Safeway under the assistance of their regional pharmacy manager Heta Shah. Dietician Mita Patel assisted the attendees in making smart food choices for various medical conditions and dietary restrictions.
IACF President-elect Dr. Kamala Raghavan asked everyone to participate in the upcoming Gala event on Saturday, September 20 and the Ace of Hearts for Charity event on Saturday, August 2 at the Aloft Hotel in the Galleria area where IACF will distribute over $25,000 in scholarships to needy Indo American and mainstream children through the auspices of the Fort Bend County School District.