THE 2nd South Asian Health Expo will take place on Sunday, January 26 at Crown Palace Banquet Hall in Surrey. Doors open at 11 a.m.

Some of the common health issues South Asians suffer from include diabetes, high blood pressure and weight gain due to high calorie diet, just to name a few. All age groups in the South Asian community are being affected and it’s time for everyone to take control of their health. The upcoming South Asian Health Expo is a great opportunity to get valuable information under one roof at the same time.

Various vendors from the Health, Wellness and Fitness industry will be on-site doing free testing, giving out information, distributing product samples and prize giveaways. Also, the 3rd edition of the South Asian Health Magazine will be distributed to all attendees for free.

There will be a Speaker Series with a line-up of speakers presenting in Punjabi during the early afternoon session starting at 12:30 p.m. which will be emceed by Harpreet Singh (from The Harpreet Singh Show on JoyTV). The English session will take place late afternoon and the full line-up of speakers for both sessions will be available on the website www.sahealthexpo.com by Friday, January 24.

The Community Sponsors of the 2014 South Asian Health Expo include Progressive InterCultural Services (PICS), Training Day Café, Caribbean Medical University (CMU) and South Asian Mental Health Action & Awareness (SAMHAA). A limited number of free family passes for the Expo are available through all of the community sponsors, otherwise admission is $10 per family (for unlimited number of family members). Visit the website to get the contact info for all of the community sponsors.

The Health Expo will cater to all age groups within the community. Essentially, there is something for everyone. You are never too young or too old to take control of your health. With the presence of academic advisors and students from Caribbean Medical University (CMU) at the Health Expo, the younger generation can even learn about how to get into medical school and become a doctor.

“We are excited to be a part of this year’s South Asian Health Expo. This is an excellent opportunity for members of the local community to gain awareness of daily health and medical issues. Our students will be present at the expo to speak with community members about potential risks, prevention techniques, and outbreaks of various diseases and how to maintain a healthy lifestyle,” says Dr. S. Handa, Dean of Clinical Medicine for Caribbean Medical University.

Amrinder Sahota has been interested in the health, wellness and fitness industry. He played soccer and got involved with wrestling. In 1995 he started weightlifting and eventually became a junior national weightlifting champion. He is now embarking on a new business venture. Amrinder is opening the doors to his dream project the “Training Day Café” on January 15 and is also one of the community sponsors / organizers of the South Asian Health Expo.

“I’ve always believed that health and wellness is important at all ages. I’m excited to be a part of this Expo and to bring awareness to the South Asian community,” says Amrinder.

Towards the end of the Health Expo, BC Lightweight Champion Andy Padda and his teammates will be sharing MMA sparring and techniques with the audience. There will also be demonstrations from the students of Mamba Martial Arts Academy run by Kultar Mamba Gill. This is a great opportunity for MMA fans and those that are interested in learning more about this popular sport. Also, former Olympic wrestler, Arjan Bhullar is organizing a few exhibition wrestling matches with his students. This combination of sport and entertainment is an exciting addition to this year’s South Asian Health Expo.

A few key non-profit agencies are participating again this year including Canadian Diabetes Association, Heart & Stroke Foundation, Canadian Cancer Society, Alcoholics Anonymous and the Surrey Women’s Centre, just to name a few.

For more information, contact:  Rina Gill at 778-688-4973 or Pardeep Sahota at 604-897-2310.