AAPIQLI, one of the most active Chapters of American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), under the leadership of Dr. Bhavani Srinivasan organized Breast Cancer Awareness event in Clark Botanical Gardens in Albertson, Long Island on Sunday, October 15 2019.
Dr. Himanshu Pandya President AAPI QLI; Dr. Bhavani Srinivasan Chair Womens’ Affairs; Dr. Tarun Wasil oncologist, Dr. Usha Bhansal; Jaya Bahadkar, Dr. Isha Mehta, Dr. Meena Ahluwalia, and Dr. Vimal Goyal, were some of the AAPIQLI leaders who were part of the event.
Elected Officials from Long Island, including Town Supervisor Judy Bosworth, Councilman Peter Zuckerman, Supervisor Bosworth attended the event and presented Citations from the Town of North Hempstead to the dedicated AAPIQLI team.New York State Senator Kevin Thomas, the first Indian American to be elected to that office, complimented the physicians on their various health initiatives and gave a Citation to AAPI QLI.
Nassau University Medical Center provided a Mammography Van for free mammograms which could be performed on site.
Geri Barish, who runs the Hewlett House, a lovely, warm, caring, supportive refuge center for women with breast cancer, spoke about the importance of mammograms and early detection. The breast cancer survivors present gave a poignant account of what they had to undergo.
To entertain the audience, ballet troupe led by dance teacher Marcia Krengel, came all the way from Patchogue and gave a very lively rendering of “Mamma Mia”, along with 2 other dazzling performances, “Lion” and “Never Give Up”! So appropriate! Mathy Pillai sang an operatic, outstanding version of our National Anthem; and Jyoti Gupta sang a very lovely Hindi number about motherhood.Sponsored by HSBC, Rajbhog Restaurant donated Masala Tea, and Dr. Bhavani brought finger snacks, while water was provided by Drs. Usha and Meena. Registration was handled by Dr. Vimal. Mrs. Jaya introduced the pink element with the pink tablecloths and pink balloons!!
The event was very well attended, including notables, past President Dr. Jagan Pahuja of AAPIQLI and Mr Lalit Aery President of IALI.
