Patients Sign Up for Treatment

By Kamana Mathur

From  February 7-13, a Medical Yatra, organized by Dr. Shashi Marwah of Pittsburgh’s North Hills, in conjunction with the Association of Indian Physicians of Northeastern Ohio (AIPNO) and the Parmarth Ashram in Rishikesh, India, performed an amazing feat – they brought together physicians from all over the world  to perform medical exams and provide much needed treatment to more than 3,749 villagers in remote regions of Northern India.  Medicine and eyeglasses were also provided at no cost to the villagers.

From their base at the Ashram in Rishikesh, the volunteers left every morning by bus to various remote regions and saw patients from 8:30 am to 4pm every day, before making the long trek back to their makeshift accommodation in Rishikesh.   The Yatra resulted in over 7,800 physician visits to a population that had little or no access to medical treatment. 

The team consisted of 32 physicians and volunteers from the US, UK, and other parts of the world.  This committed group took time off their busy schedules to go to India at their own expense. They were joined by more than 20 volunteers from the Parmarth Ashram, who worked round-the-clock to make sure everything went smoothly.

 The AIPNO YATRA fund has made a commitment to Parmarth Ashram to fund 100 cataract surgeries for the poor and the needy at the next cataract camp, planned for October 2011.

For details and photos of the event, please see the attached article:  Medical Yatra.  For more information or to volunteer or donate, please contact Ms.Shashi Marwah at marwahshashi@hotmail.com.

Jackie has a rare gift.  Her exceptional talent, obvious to everyone who hears her, got her voted on to America’s Got Talent.  But it is her hard work and perseverance that will very quickly see her rise to the top of the industry.  Watching her Tuesday night, I kept having to remind myself that this young girl with the voice, poise, and self-assurance of a sophisticated young woman was indeed only 10-years-old. 

Possible reasons for the loss?  The sympathy factor: The show aired a video of Michael with his grandparents.  He wanted to win so he could buy them a house.  Sure to tug at the hearts of many.

The Language Issue: Perhaps voters preferred to hear an English song they knew and loved rather than the Latin Ava Maria.  Most viewers (including me) probably did not understand the words.

Age:  Of the two, who was better equipped to perform in Las Vegas and around the country?  Cross-country tours and Vegas performances are probably not the best activity for a very bright 10-year-old.  Besides, Jackie has plenty of time to go on and achieve great things without the added push winning the award provides.

Regardless, Jackie has carved a niche for herself as an exceptionally talented and very poised young woman with a remarkable career ahead of her.  She had my vote.  Pittsburgh is proud of her!
- Kamana Mathur

The recent controversy over the construction of a multi-million dollar Islamic Center on ground zero and the backlash in the form of threatened Koran burnings is an unfortunate consequence of a society where asserting one’s legal rights sometimes trumps doing what is right. No one denies that Muslim groups have the right to build a Mosque anywhere they wish in the United States as long as they comply with local ordinances and laws. No one denies that an individual has a right to burn a book on his property as long as he or she complies with the local fire codes. But what one has the right to do so often differs from what one ought to do.

We are fortunate to live in a nation that welcomes individuals of different ethnicities and religions, a nation where different viewpoints are cherished and opinions freely exchanged. But there are times when it is important for those to whom this country has given jobs, homes, and an unparalleled degree of freedom to recognize the debt we owe to America and Americans. There are countries where you cannot get a job, secure an education, or become a citizen if you belong to a different faith. There are countries where you risk imprisonment and even death if you dare to speak out against injustice. But America is not one of them.

However, this unparalleled freedom must be exercised with a degree of caution. Consideration for the sentiments of an overwhelming majority of those who have welcomed us into their homes and hearts must go hand in hand with the exercise of our rights as U.S. Citizens. Insisting on building a Mosque on ground zero, while legally acceptable, appeared to many to be a slap in the face of those who experienced the enormous tragedy of September 11.

For Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf to say that he wouldn’t have picked the site on Ground Zero to build the proposed Islamic Center had he known the fight it would cause appears disingenuous. A man of religion must surely be in tune with the sentiments of the majority of individuals around him. The right thing to do is for the Imam to seek a different home for the Islamic Center. Moving it to another location would not undermine its value to the Muslim community, but it would go a long way in allaying the fear and hatred building an Islamic Center on the site of this terrible tragedy is likely to evoke.

Americans were the first to denounce the Florida Pastor’s plans to burn the Koran. We know it was an affront to Muslim sentiments and to all those who value an individual’s right to freely practice his faith. Fortunately, reason prevailed and Pastor Jones called off the proposed Koran burning. Would it be too much to expect the same from Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf?

http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/beauty/h-m-and-wal-mart-destroy-and-trash-unsold-goods-562909/?posted=1

This lovely little city, Pittsburgh, is under siege.  Every day the media describes yet another crisis.  Eight more schools to close.  Library branches to be shuttered.  A court order to fix the water and sewer system.  Underfunded pension funds. Property and business taxes that are burdensome.  Disappearing bus stops.  Disappearing mail boxes.  And the latest, a mayor who wants to tax our local college students to balance the city’s books.

Someone has been asleep at the wheel.

It has been decades now since Pittsburgh’s population was halved.  Any sensible person would surely understand that half the people + the same number of services = disaster?

 For the past decade the question in my head has become louder, more strident.   Where is the leadership who will say it the way it is?  Where is the leadership that will prepare it’s citizens for reality?

 A leader should look like this.  She should prepare her city’s citizens for the strategy that must be thought through – a shrinking city strategy.  She should find ways to consolidate the city’s citizenry, to consolidate services.   She should have the courage to say that upfront.  She should focus on how to grow the city.  And she should share the plan so that her citizens will understand that there will be pain, but there is also hope. She should know that cities are the future and that Pittsburgh will grow again.

Neither the head of the library system nor the superintendent of the public schools are to blame for the situations they inherited.    Audits, anger and outrage will not change that fact.

It was with great excitement and a little trepidation that Jacintha Mary, her husband Benjamin, and daughters Deepika and Preethi went to the Consulate in Chennai, India  2 ½ years ago to get their visas to come to the United States.   Jacintha, a registered nurse, had received a job offer to work in Pittsburgh.  

No one in their family had ever been outside the country, and their parents were not happy at the prospect of them going so far away.  But Jacintha and Benjamin wanted a better life for their girls – a life they had thus far only read about and seen in films.  

Jacintha worked at a medical research center and Benjamin had a government job, but they found it hard to make ends meet.  They still could not afford to buy a house or car, or any of the amenities we take for granted here in America.  This step of taking a job and moving to a country half-way across the globe would help them provide their children with the opportunities they had always dreamed of.  The girls would get a first class education and be able to achieve their true potential.  And today was the day they would receive their ‘Green Cards’ to the land of their dreams. 

There was just one problem. Benjamin and Jacintha had submitted their passports at the same time in order to get a police clearance from the passport office, as requested in their interview letter.  As the clearance needed to be less than six months old, they had been advised not to apply for it until they were called for an

Deepika and Preethi appeal to Obama

interview.  Surprisingly, Jacintha got hers the same day, but Benjamin was told they needed to conduct further checks, even though he had a brand new passport and had never had any problems with the law.  

Jacintha, Deepika, and Preethi got their ‘Green Cards’ that day.  Benjamin was told he could not get his visa until he provided the missing document.  The family, minus Benjamin, got on a flight to the U.S. a few months later.  Jacintha’s employer was waiting for her to join.  Despite their joy at finally getting this opportunity, the young family left for America with a heavy heart – their father was to remain behind.  Hopefully, he would join them soon.

However, as fate would have it, the visa number that had been reserved for Benjamin was returned unused at the end of the month – a fact the family had not known.  When Benjamin later provided the missing document to the Consulate in Chennai, he was informed that a visa number was no longer available for him.  In fact, the “priority date” for his visa had retrogressed from 2005 to 2001, and seemed to keep moving backwards.

The first thought that came to the family was to apply for a temporary visa for Benjamin, so that he could at least come and see his family.  Again, our visa policies made that a virtual impossibility.  Once listed on an immigrant petition, an individual is presumed to have “immigrant intent” and therefore is not eligible for a “non-immigrant” or temporary visa.  

Deepika and Preethi  go to bed every night without feeling the warm embrace of their father’s arms.  They no longer hear the bedtime stories they would excitedly wait for their father to tell them.  The girls have grown, made friends, and are happy to be in America.   But they long for the day their father can join them here.  Hopefully, that day will come before he becomes a distant memory.  

True, Jacintha can quit her job as a critical care nurse at the Children’s Institute, where she cares for children with head and spinal cord injuries, and move back to India.  She can pull her children out of school and take them away from their friends and the life they cherish.  But would that be a good thing for America?  

Certainly not, say her friends and co-workers at the Children’s Institute.  Not only would we lose an honest, hardworking nurse filling a critical need caring for our children, it would be a sad reflection on America that we cannot hold on to our talent due to our flawed visa policies.  

The time for Immigration Reform is NOW.  As a nation of immigrants, it’s time we rewarded those who play by the rules, wait their turn, and come to the United States to work hard for America and Americans.

Given the current recession, immigration reform has taken a back seat to bailout plans, energy independence, the war in the Middle East, and practically everything else.  With the increasing number of jobless Americans, how can we as a nation justify immigrant-friendly policies? Immigration has always been a subject of heated debate.  We have accused immigrants of taking away American jobs, increasing crime, and fundamentally changing our way of life.  Economists have long argued the opposite – that immigrants by taking jobs U.S. workers are unwilling or unable to do, make us a more productive and competitive nation.  Immigrants come here to make a life for themselves and their families.  They work hard, pay taxes, and try to fit in.

The bottom line at a time of high-unemployment is this: does immigration help or hurt America and Americans? Some interesting studies, one most recently done by Kerr and Lincoln at the Harvard Business School, indicate a strong correlation between immigration and the number of patents filed in the U.S.  The link could be attributed to the fact that individuals who are willing to take the risk of leaving their known surroundings to immigrate to the U.S. tend to be more innovative in thinking and more entrepreneurial in spirit.  They are more likely to find innovative problems-solving solutions and take the risk of starting a new enterprise in an effort to attain the “American dream.”  A spinoff effect is that those who work, play, or study with them tend to become more innovative in thinking as well.

Pittsburgh has a long history of immigration.  During the early 1900’s, a large number of German, Polish, and other workers were brought here to work in the coal mines.  With the decline of the steel industry, workers lost their jobs but stayed here in Pittsburgh. 

Currently, with the “reinvention” of Pittsburgh as a high-tech haven and medical super-center, it is attracting another type of immigrant – a highly educated, professional worker in the engineering, high-tech, or medical field.  Although Hispanics constitute the largest immigrant group in the U.S., Pittsburgh is home to more Indian immigrants that any other nationality.  But with job losses across the board, it is not surprising that employment-based immigration to the U.S. has started to decline, and this trend is likely to continue.

Congress is burdening taxpayers with the costs of bailing out industries in order to stave off even more job losses.  But why not use immigrants to bail out the economy?  We already provide E2 visas to those individuals from select countries who are willing to start or invest in a business in the U.S.  Why not expand the program to individuals from more countries?  A little-known visa category, the EB-5, qualifies foreign investors for a Green Card if they are willing to invest at least $500,000 in a “targeted employment area” and create at least 10 jobs.  Pittsburgh is one such area.  We would do well to seek out such investors, individuals who could not only create jobs and invest in our growth, but who would make Pittsburgh a more attractive place for the young and talented. 

America is undoubtedly one of the most desirable places to live in the world.  Here, we can still reap the benefits of hard work and enterprise, express our opinions freely, and live wherever we choose.   We should consider taking steps to attract the many well-qualified, hardworking, and talented people from all over the world who would like to live, work, and invest in our country. It is time the Obama Administration take a close look at our immigration policies and make it easier for foreign investors to come to the U.S., start businesses, create jobs, and help rebuild our nation.

About two years ago, I got a call from a friend of mine, Theresa Orlando, who was the Director of “Myriams,” a homeless shelter for women. Theresa said that she had an Indian girl in the shelter who cried continuously. She did not know what to do for her. I went to Myriams that same day to meet this girl.  It turns out that she was Dr. Shalini Devi, a PhD from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (one of the premier engineering institutes in India). She was crying but after some time, I was able to draw out her story.

Shalini had been a Post Doctoral student at the University of Pittsburgh but lost her job five years earlier, and subsequently lost contact with her family and friends. No one knew of her status.  She had saved $46,000 while working and she used that money to stay in her apartment in Shadyside for five years until her money was depleted. She even stopped taking the bus so that she could stretch her money further. Her sole activity was to go to Oakland to the Indian grocery store and carry bags of grocery back to her apartment.

She knew people in the apartment building but she shared her plight with no one. When the money ran out and she could no longer afford to pay the rent, the Pittsburgh Police were contacted to escort her out of the apartment. The apartment management kept her things in storage and the police brought her to Myriams and Theresa Orlando.  That is where I got involved. 
 
Over the next 90 days, my wife and I visited Shalini frequently. I spoke to her Professor at the University of Pittsburgh. Our friends and members of our Vedanta Group also visited her. We could not figure out a solution other than to insist that she contact her family.  I gave her my calling card but she did not use it. I had been talking to Theresa Orlando during this time also and I knew that at the after 90 days, Shalini would be left on the streets of Pittsburgh. Her visa had lapsed and she was an illegal alien at this point. The shelter could not get government funding for her and had no option but to leave her to sleep on the streets of Pittsburgh.

Shalini did not have a passport or the money to return to India. I took her to a photographer and managed to get her passport photographs, helped her complete her passport application and sent it in to the Indian Consulate. I followed up with a call to the Indian Consulate. Apparently, the Consulate had been contacted by Shalini’s family – they had been trying to locate her. The Consulate promised to help Shalini in any way they could – they rushed her passport to us. 
 
After the 90 days in the homeless shelter ended, we decided to bring her to our home. Although reluctant, she agreed to come home with us. The first thing we wanted her to do was contact her family in India.  Although she appeared to be shy and quite docile, speaking to us with hesitation, she was very loud and vocal when she spoke to her mother on the telephone.  It was nice to know that there was some strength left in her.

It turned out that her brother Amar lived in Toronto so we contacted him right away. He was absolutely delighted to find his sister. He wanted to come to meet her but he was on a limited visa in Canada and could not travel to USA.  Shalini and Amar spoke frequently from then on. A couple of their friends came to visit Shalini from Canada. 
 
It was not all work during the three weeks she stayed with us. She turned out to be a wonderful “Orissa” cook. Our challenge now was to get her back to normal (she had not been taking her depression medication) and reunite her with her family in India.  Plans were made to send her to Mumbai to her sister. Her passport was ready. We purchased her ticket for Mumbai and in the meantime also started a campaign to raise some money for her through our Vedanta Group and the IIT Alumni Association. Money started pouring in to help this young girl caught in unfortunate circumstances.  It was very gratifying to see that people from far off places sent money so that Shalini could resume her life in Mumbai.

 Her return journey to Mumbai turned out to be eventful as well. Her Air India flight from New York was cancelled, but after a two-day layover in Newark, she finally reached Mumbai.  After prolonged questioning by the Indian Customs, trying to figure out how she stayed in USA for over five years without a visa, she was finally free to join her family. 
 
We have kept in touch with Shalini and spoken to her psychiatrist and her family in Mumbai.  She is adjusting well.  And as I started the Shalini story, it now has a happy ending.  It is gratifying to see that Shalini is going to make a life of her own in Mumbai and the memories of Myriams in Pittsburgh will slowly fade away. 

Editor’s Note: One might wonder how a woman who is obviously smart and well-educated could get into such a situation.  She would have wandered the streets of Pittsburgh, homeless and penniless, but for the intervention of one kind soul.  I think this story highlights the hope immigrants bring with them.  These young, talented individuals come to America in pursuit of the American dream.  They truly believe that through hard work, they can achieve success and help care for their families.  Many parents mortgage their homes or borrow money from friends to provide their children this opportunity to “make them proud.”  The thought of returning in defeat is too shameful to imagine – perhaps a fate worse than death. 

* Names have been changed to protect the young girl’s identity.

The Economy is in the doldrums.  Baby boomers nearing retirement have lost their nest eggs in the volatile market.  Jobless numbers are the highest in years.  Given these pressing issues, immigration reform has taken a back seat to bailout plans, energy independence, the war in the Middle East, and practically everything else.  With the increasing number of jobless Americans, how can we as a nation justify immigrant-friendly policies?

Immigration has always been a subject of heated debate.  We have accused immigrants of taking away American jobs, increasing crime, and fundamentally changing our way of life.  Economists have long argued the opposite – that immigrants by taking jobs U.S. workers are unwilling or unable to do, make us a more productive and competitive nation.  Immigrants come here to make a life for themselves and their families.  They work hard, pay taxes, and try to fit in.

Pittsburgh has a long history of immigration.  During the early 1900’s, a large number of German, Polish, and other workers were brought here to work in the coal mines.  With the decline of the steel industry, workers lost their jobs but stayed here in Pittsburgh. 

Currently, with the “reinvention” of Pittsburgh as a high-tech haven and medical super-center, it is attracting another type of immigrant – a highly educated, professional worker in the engineering, high-tech, or medical field.  Although Hispanics constitute the largest immigrant group in the U.S., Pittsburgh is home to more Indian immigrants that any other nationality.  But with job losses across the board, it is not surprising that employment-based immigration to the U.S. has started to decline, and this trend is likely to continue.

Congress is burdening taxpayers with the costs of bailing out industries in order to stave off even more job losses.  But why not use immigrants to bail out the economy?  We already provide E2 visas to those individuals from select countries who are willing to start or invest in a business in the U.S.  Why not expand the program to individuals from more countries?  A little-known visa category, the EB-5, qualifies foreign investors for a Green Card if they are willing to invest at least $500,000 in a “targeted employment area” and create at least 10 jobs.  Pittsburgh is one such area.  We would do well to seek out such investors, individuals who could not only create jobs and invest in our growth, but who would make Pittsburgh a more attractive place for the young and talented. 

America is undoubtedly one of the most desirable places to live in the world.  Here, we can still reap the benefits of hard work and enterprise, express our opinions freely, and live wherever we choose.   We should consider taking steps to attract the many well-qualified, hardworking, and talented people from all over the world who would like to live, work, and invest in our country.

It is time the Obama Administration take a close look at our immigration policies and make it easier for foreign investors to come the U.S., start businesses, create jobs, and help rebuild our nation.