‘Heart talk’ doc is best immigrant

A Punjabi cardiologist and producer Dr Anmol Kapoor has been conferred the Immigrant of Distinction Award by the Canadian

Immigration Services

this year.

With over 7 million immigrants living in

Canada

, which is ranked seventh on the list of countries with highest number of immigrants, it is a great feat to get this honour.


He said, “It’s not easy to leave your country, and it feels great to be appreciated by your adopted country. The honour means a lot to me and tells me that I should work more for the community. It also tells the world that

Calgary

is an amazing city that welcomes immigrants and acknowledges their contribution in making it one of the top cities in the world.”

Kapoor’s life-saving work focuses on prevention of heart disease, particularly within the South Asian community and women.

Kapoor

explains why he has chosen this speciality: “South Asians are 3-5 times at higher risk of developing heart disease versus other ethnicities in Canada. Other vulnerable populations, such as women and refugees, sometimes do not get proper care because of how they present their symptoms in an emergency situations. This delays their diagnosis and treatment which leads to complications at a later stage. I wanted to focus on this area to educate everyone and help reduce barriers within the health system.”

Kapoor goes on to explain the importance of heart disease awareness as South Asians are genetically at a higher risk due to rise in lifestyle diseases like diabetes. His charitable work is also impressive as a co-founder of Dil-Walk, a volunteerrun charity committed to increasing awareness of heart disease. It has saved the health care system $10million — a rough estimate based on the number of DilWalk participants seen by specialists and health professionals over past 5 years, not billed to Alberta Health Services. Kapoor explains the objective behind it: “We have a developing world-like situation in a developed country in Canada. We have many vulnerable populations that are not getting equal access to health care due to various barriers. Immigrants arriving in Canada are making this country successful, but sometimes they are not aware of existing health resources and how to access them. They may only come to know some of the resources when they get ill. This gap led us to establish the 100% volunteer

run charity

DilWalk Foundation

, to improve access to vital information and help save lives.”

Kapoor talks about the impact it may have on other Sikh youths in Canada: “I can’t say I am a role model, as I am still learning. I will ask everyone to remember the meaning of Sikh, which means student for life. I will ask them to follow Gurus' teachings and serve humanity. When I wear a turban, I have the responsibility to work every day. One misstep would not only be bad for me, but could be worse for whole community."