Since 2004, the Sai Baba Center of Tampa Bay has conducted several medical screening camps in St. Petersburg and Clearwater, Florida. The medical camps offer a wide variety of health screening services, and we have sincerely enjoyed providing such services to members of our community.

For example, the medical screening camp held on 30 Jan 2010 at the St. Petersburg Coliseum involved 60 doctors and 70 nurses and other professionals and featured 66 medical booths staffed by medical specialists in family medicine, pediatrics, smoking cessation, cardiology, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, and psychology. St. Anthony’s Hospital provided support with processing the lab work.

This 2010 medical screening camp was part of a massive, day-long community event organized under the auspices of Project Homeless Connect, serving the homeless population of Pinellas County, in which 82 organizations took part. The Sathya Sai Baba Organization coordinated and provided the medical screenings, and other organizations provided services such as haircuts, shampoos, issuing of Florida IDs, bicycle repair and helmet giveaway, homeless census, registration for food stamps and other benefits, legal aid, information about vocational training, and a free breakfast and lunch.*

                             

Naturally we have found that when serving so many people with health problems, it is difficult to please them all. Our goal, however, is to serve these people with loving hearts, realizing that we are serving God within the other person. The way we treat these people not only medically, but personally, can have a tremendous positive effect.

We have experienced several interactions that illustrate Sathya Sai Baba’s teaching that when giving service, we should emphasize the quality of service rather than the number of people served.

Once an angry man arrived at the closing hour of the medical camp and demanded that someone present the anger management slides again. Our psychiatrist was gentle in his approach. He calmly opened the projector and showed him the entire slide presentation with love and patience. At the end of the presentation, the man said, “Thank you very much. You saved my mother. I was planning to kill her tonight!”

The joy one gets while promoting another’s joy is incomparable,” says Sathya Sai Baba. One woman in her forties had a severe form of psoriasis and was unable to see any of the local dermatologists. With the help of the social services provided by the camp, she was scheduled to see a dermatologist at the University of South Florida. The lady returned to a subsequent camp to show off her glowing skin, which was normal and smooth. The greater joy was seeing her face filled with happiness as she exclaimed, “Every bit you do counts!”

Yes, every bit does count – it counts not only to the one being served but even more so to the one serving. Every time we lift our hand in loving service to another being, we serve the Divine within, for it enables us to experience divine love firsthand.

                             

A homeless young adolescent with diabetes who sold soda cans he collected on the beach came to the camp one day. He would take his insulin based on the number of hamburgers he could buy. We were able to find him a shelter that would accept him. We were also able to find him a resource for diabetic supplies. Soon he was taking his insulin dose based on his blood sugar and not on his burger intake! The sense of fulfillment and self-satisfaction that overcame me that day made me realize that screening camps do make a difference and that it is the quality – the pure loving intention behind the service offered – that matters most.

Additional Info

* See www.tampabay.com/news/humaninterest/pinellas-county-homeless-can-get-free-medical-screenings-and-more-saturday/1068334

To learn more about or join this service project, you may go to: http://us.sathyasai.org/index.html and click on the state or city in which the Sai Center project takes place. Click on “Email us for information about these Centers.” A local contact will respond to your email

Keywords

medical camp, Sai Baba Center of Tampa Bay, Florida, St Petersburg FL, Clearwater FL, St Petersburg Coliseum, free medical screening camp, Project Homeless Connect, St. Petersburg medical camp, Region 3

Project Details

Project start: 01/01/04

Project completion:

Stage of development:

Zone name: US. Canada, West Indies, Israel

Lat/Longitude: 28° 16' N -82° 23' W

Affiliation: Sathya Sai Center of Tampa Bay, FL

Service category: Medical clinic/camp

Author: Geetha Kamath

Project leader: Geetha Kamath