Free community clinic Sept. 7 draws attention to free health services year-round

Nurses who participated in the health fair last year included this year's organizer Betsy Roche, center. Courtesy of Susan Keaton

A free community health fair -- designed to spotlight a free health care clinic offered for the uninsured year-round -- is being offered for the third 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. 7, 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 sugar checks, weight management consultations, mini massages, vision tests and oral cancer screenings. They can visit various booths to talk with orthopedists, optometrists, dentists or even to get a brief physician consultation.

Also, different health care practitioners will offer five different hourlong courses on such topics as living with high blood pressure or living with diabetes. Healthy snacks are served throughout the day.

As in previous years, members of both congregations will serve as greeters and guides to ensure everyone feels comfortable coming in to the mosque and participating in the events. Doctors from the free clinic, local nursing students, and health care practitioners from the community at large are donating their expertise.

Hundreds of people have attended the health fair the last two years, several of them later becoming 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 at clinic.icnmasjid.org.

Clinic founders Dr. Atif Fakhruddin and Dr. Usman Khan worked with Community United Methodist Church volunteers, headed by member and registered nurse Betsy Roche, to plan, organize and publicize the health fair the last two years.