The CEO of Heart of Ohio Family Health, Dr. Buhari Mohammed has stressed the importance of a yearly medical checkup, offering hope that “it doesn’t cost much, $15.”

“As a matter of fact, if you cannot afford it we will waive it, that is how simple it is,” Dr. Buhari Mohammed told the New Americans magazine in an interview due to be published next week.

With focus on new Americans and their work routine, Dr. Buhari advised, “We should slow down and take care of ourselves. In taking care of ourselves, our health is very important. It is important because we have come to another country where information is gold.”

“You have to establish yourself with a family doctor, especially if it is not going to cost a big amount of money. So, you have a baseline of how you feel and how you look. Every year you go and have a checkup. It doesn’t cost you much, $15.’

“As a matter of fact, if you cannot afford it we will waive it, that is how simple it is. But if you have insurance, we will take it because that is how we are able to take care of people without insurance.”

“Let’s have our health as an important part of our existence,” said Dr. Buhari.

He gave an analogy of a ship captain who must take care of himself to be able to direct the ship.

“All of us that are here are captains of our own ship. When something happens to the captain, what happens? The ship will sink. So why don’t you want to take care of yourself so that the captain is still strong to take care of the family, to take care of the people they love back at home. That is the message I want to pass that it is not scary just to find out what you have.”

“There are a lot of people who will find out that they are diabetic, and it is too late, they have hypertension, and it is too late. Now we are finding colon cancer, and it is too late.”

On the kind of food that people need to be careful with, Dr. Buhari said “Not to scare anyone because I am part of it, our food that we eat, if you look at it here, we are not walking like we do back at home.”

“So, the palm oil soup, the peanut soup and all of those things, the fat in it needs to burn if we don’t do exercise. You can only be aware of these things by coming to the clinic and talking to the doctors and they tell us what is right and wrong.” 

“It is not to stop eating but to do it in moderation. Even when you eat, go for a walk. Back at home we walk a lot, but here everything is driving. People should come and be seen, and access is affordable, and we need to be taking care of ourselves.”

Heart of Ohio Family Health (HOFH) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit health care provider committed to serving all groups, ethnicities, and communities in Central Ohio since 2003. Operating as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), it offers services in primary care, pediatrics, behavioral health, substance use disorder, OBGYN, diagnostic laboratory, pharmacy, dietetics and nutrition, and interpretation. With six locations in Ohio, HOFHC has a team of more than 90 providers and staff dedicated to providing quality healthcare to thousands of individuals and families.

Support the New Americans magazine to continue to serve our community with precise news that affect the new American, immigrant and refugee community. https://paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=8LHFS78NRNJJY&source=url