The Final Call

Panelists discuss the business of medicine at Saviours’ Day workshop

By Anisah Muhammad -Contributing Writer- | Last updated: Mar 4, 2020 - 9:04:56 AM

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DETROIT—At 40 years of age, Valeria Muhammad had to go back to school for three more years in order to serve as a nurse practitioner.

“You have to have vision, but you also have to have desire and will,” she said.

Host and panelist Katrina Muhammad

She was on a Saviours’ Day 2020 workshop panel titled, “Medical Industry 2.0—The Victory Lap: Turning Technicians into Entrepreneurs.”

Part of the workshop’s purpose was to show young people that the medical industry is an option, panelist and moderator Joshua Muhammad said. The workshop took place February 21 at the TCF Center in Detroit.

Other panelists included Safiyya Shabazz, a family physician, Tesfa X, an attending physician, Kermit Muhammad, an orthopedic surgeon, Kimberly Harrington, founder and CEO of Phlebotomy Express Training Centers, Kamilah Muhammad, a practicing anesthesiologist, and Katrina Muhammad, who has over 20 years of experience in sales.

Moderator Joshua Muhammad

Workshop topics included medicine as a business, doing for self in the medical industry and Black-owned hospitals.

Because of the difficulty in hiring medical experts at her care practice, Fountain Medical Associates, Dr. Shabazz started hiring grad students to help provide them with an educational experience.

Dr. Tesfa X spoke on the importance of Black-owned and Black-operated hospitals. He said studies have shown that Black people are treated better when they go to Black-owned hospitals and that hospitals provide a place for research and education.

Attendees were allowed to submit questions via index cards.

Responding to a question about caring for patients with Dementia, Ms. Harrington said, “A lot of the caregivers of patients are so stressed out from taking care of their parents that they’re dying before their mom or their dad,” she said. “We are going to start development programs to train you, the caregiver, to help take some of the stress off.”

Attendees consisted of people who are in the medical field and those who aren’t.

“I was interested in this seminar because I always wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to go to school to be a doctor,” Joey Muhammad, an engineer from Milwaukee said.

He enjoyed the knowledge the panelists shared.

“I see the points where we can bring things together. From an engineering standpoint, that’s what we do. We design circuits and bring them together as a system,” he said.

Rochelle Shokoti, who works in the biotech industry, attended the workshop because she believes in the work the Nation of Islam does for people of color.

Describing the disparities in healthcare for people of color, the Cambridge, Mass., resident said, “I’m here because I want to know what I can do to help my community, to help our community.”