Village Journals
Resonate your identity with Naseeb journals. Express your opinions, share your thoughts, post your writings and connect with like minded people through the power of expression.
Resonate your identity with Naseeb journals. Express your opinions, share your thoughts, post your writings and connect with like minded people through the power of expression.
MCC free health clinic inauguration this sunday, june 5th, 11am
This Sunday, June 5th, at 11am, the muslim community center of silver spring, md will officially inaugurate the newly expanded health clinic. many montgomery county government executives will be in attendence and i think it would look good to support mcc in this endeavor but also to show the county our commitment to helping our surrounding community. So if you can, please try to be there.
for more info... www.mccmd.org
Back in June 2003 when we started our free clinic, a workload of 12 to 15 patients a week for the one-day operation was estimated. Accordingly, two doctors and a two-person team of supporting staff were scheduled for each Sunday. We soon realized that we were wrong in our initial estimation and were forced to make arrangements to add another day to our clinic schedule so that the workload can be divided. As the word spread around, the number of patients started to swell. Soon, it became difficult for two doctors to treat 40 to 50 patients each Sunday with the help of a small supporting staff. Then came the story in the Washington Post about our clinic and we were literally mobbed by the visitors. On Fridays, when the clinic was supposed to operate between 2 to 4 PM, the volunteers had to stay until late evenings to cope with the continuing flow of patients. This situation became worse on Sundays when our volunteers had to work until evening to make sure that every patient who walks in the clinic receives proper treatment. At this point, we realized that not only that we need more volunteers; we also need a bigger waiting area and additional examination rooms!
A very generous donation of $20,000 from our volunteer physician, Dr. Mohammad Yusuf, and another $20,000 grant from the Montgomery County Health Department motivated us to embark on the ambitious expansion project for the clinic. But there were hurdles on the way. The County grant came with the condition that the entire money must be used before the June 30, 2005 deadline or else it would be forfeited. It was difficult to find a contractor who could design, build, and obtain occupancy permit from the County within this short period of time. The $20,000 budget set aside for the construction seemed to be unrealistic as the lowest bid, after including extras, was approximately twice of this amount. We were apprehensive on doing it ourselves due to the complex nature of this project. MCC did not have any prior experience of handling a project of this magnitude and we were reluctant to take this huge responsibility on our shoulders.
The unexpected help came from Hemal Mustafa, who manages the building permitting and licensing department in the County. He assured us that he would personally obtain the necessary permits and would be happy to supervise the construction if others were willing to help. Mahmood Kureshi, Chairman, Building Committee, took Hemal on his promise and within a short period was able to assemble a team of volunteers ready to work! While Mohammad Shamim, Ishtiaq Chughtai, and Shaihd Rab along with Hemal took care of the design and drawings of the project, Harris Tobing, Ahmad Khan, Shahanshah Chaudhary, Ahmad Bilal, Taufiq Jebara, Khalid Rauni, Mohammad Khan, Zaheed Khan, and Abbas Noor divided the drywall, plumbing, and electrical work and Asif Qadri and Ghulam Contractor got busy with the purchasing, receiving, and installing of various furnishings from the vendors.
On May 19, 2005 the job was finally completed and MCC received the necessary permission from the County inspector to use the newly constructed facility. The work completed four weeks before the deadline at a total cost of less than $15,000; a saving of approximately $25,000. Subhan Allah!
for more info... www.mccmd.org
Back in June 2003 when we started our free clinic, a workload of 12 to 15 patients a week for the one-day operation was estimated. Accordingly, two doctors and a two-person team of supporting staff were scheduled for each Sunday. We soon realized that we were wrong in our initial estimation and were forced to make arrangements to add another day to our clinic schedule so that the workload can be divided. As the word spread around, the number of patients started to swell. Soon, it became difficult for two doctors to treat 40 to 50 patients each Sunday with the help of a small supporting staff. Then came the story in the Washington Post about our clinic and we were literally mobbed by the visitors. On Fridays, when the clinic was supposed to operate between 2 to 4 PM, the volunteers had to stay until late evenings to cope with the continuing flow of patients. This situation became worse on Sundays when our volunteers had to work until evening to make sure that every patient who walks in the clinic receives proper treatment. At this point, we realized that not only that we need more volunteers; we also need a bigger waiting area and additional examination rooms!
A very generous donation of $20,000 from our volunteer physician, Dr. Mohammad Yusuf, and another $20,000 grant from the Montgomery County Health Department motivated us to embark on the ambitious expansion project for the clinic. But there were hurdles on the way. The County grant came with the condition that the entire money must be used before the June 30, 2005 deadline or else it would be forfeited. It was difficult to find a contractor who could design, build, and obtain occupancy permit from the County within this short period of time. The $20,000 budget set aside for the construction seemed to be unrealistic as the lowest bid, after including extras, was approximately twice of this amount. We were apprehensive on doing it ourselves due to the complex nature of this project. MCC did not have any prior experience of handling a project of this magnitude and we were reluctant to take this huge responsibility on our shoulders.
The unexpected help came from Hemal Mustafa, who manages the building permitting and licensing department in the County. He assured us that he would personally obtain the necessary permits and would be happy to supervise the construction if others were willing to help. Mahmood Kureshi, Chairman, Building Committee, took Hemal on his promise and within a short period was able to assemble a team of volunteers ready to work! While Mohammad Shamim, Ishtiaq Chughtai, and Shaihd Rab along with Hemal took care of the design and drawings of the project, Harris Tobing, Ahmad Khan, Shahanshah Chaudhary, Ahmad Bilal, Taufiq Jebara, Khalid Rauni, Mohammad Khan, Zaheed Khan, and Abbas Noor divided the drywall, plumbing, and electrical work and Asif Qadri and Ghulam Contractor got busy with the purchasing, receiving, and installing of various furnishings from the vendors.
On May 19, 2005 the job was finally completed and MCC received the necessary permission from the County inspector to use the newly constructed facility. The work completed four weeks before the deadline at a total cost of less than $15,000; a saving of approximately $25,000. Subhan Allah!