Naperville mosque and church sponsor free health fair Sept. 8
A free community health fair - designed to spotlight a free health care clinic offered in Naperville year-round - is being sponsored for the second year in a row by the Islamic Center of Naperville and one of the city's oldest Christian congregations.
The fair runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 8, at the mosque, 2844 W. Ogden Ave., Naperville. It is co-sponsored by Community United Methodist Church and the ICN Free Clinic.
At the fair, those 16 and older can receive flu shots, blood pressure checks, blood glucose monitoring, weight management consultations, mini massages, vision tests and oral cancer screenings. They can visit various booths to talk with orthopedists, optometrists, social workers, dietitians or even to get a brief physician consultation.
Also, different health care practitioners will offer nine different hourlong courses on such topics as general fitness, preventing heart disease or managing diabetes with a healthy diet. Healthy snacks are served throughout the day.
Recognizing that people who have never been inside a mosque might be nervous going there for the first time, members of both congregations will serve as greeters and guides to ensure everyone feels comfortable.
Doctors from the free clinic, local nursing students, and health care practitioners from the community at large are donating their expertise.
Nearly 200 people attended the first jointly sponsored health fair last fall, and 19 of them became clients of the ICN Free Clinic, which offers "quality health care to anyone without insurance, regardless of race, religion or political affiliation." The clinic is open the first Sunday of each month, from 9 a.m. to noon, and the third Wednesday of each month from 7 to 9 p.m. More information is available on the clinic website, islamiccenterofnaperville.org.
After the first health fair, for "the first time we have started to see non-Muslim patients," said Dr. Atif Fakhruddin, one of the clinic's founders.
He and clinic co-founder Dr. Usman Khan worked with Community United Methodist Church volunteers (headed by member Pat Shanower) to plan, organize and publicize the health fair the last two years.