My Reflections on Niagara Falls Annual Medical Convention
By Dr. Ashraf Sufi
It all started about one year ago when I started planning for IMANA 40th Annual Medical Convention. I appointed an experienced member of the Board of Regents from Buffalo to be the local chairperson for the convention, as he had arranged it once before in Niagara Falls in 1987. In spite of his extremely busy schedule, Dr. Khalid Qazi took the responsibility of arranging the Convention and did wonderful job in arranging for the hotel, tours, menus, airport transport and parking. This conference could not have been possible without his help and I do not have the words to thank him enough. I must also mention our convention Committee members who tirelessly helped me and Dr. Qazi with their advice and suggestions during all those lengthy teleconference meetings. Dr. Sheik Hassan, our president at the time and Dr. Ayaz Samadani, chairperson of CME Committee were source of inspiration for me and I always turned to them for advice for CME related questions. Shiraz Malik, our executive director and his staff, Usman Durrani, Andrew Schaeffer and Annie Riaz were always available to meet our strict demands of keeping the things in order and in time.
Right from start, I wanted the convention to be successful and enjoyable for all the guests. We wanted the best hotel accessible to the airport and rooms where guests could enjoy a view of the Falls. We wanted the best tours for members and their families. Of course, we wanted an up to date CME Meeting program along with great speakers for the meals as well as top-notch entertainment for the Banquet dinner.
We have received few letters of praise from different guests who have attended the convention. As Convention chairperson, I will let those who attended tell us about their experiences first-hand. In the meantime, allow me to summarize our personal experiences.
We reached Buffalo airport on July 15, 2007 and were greeted by our transport airbus who took us to Sheraton Hotel. We had no problem crossing the border. We showed our passport and they did not ask us any other questions.
Sheraton on the Falls is an excellent hotel. From the hotel, you could walk to the Falls and view both the American and Canadian Falls. All of the rooms we arranged had a spectacular view of the falls. My wife and I stood in awe and admired the beauty of the Falls right from our own room. At night, the Falls are lit with color to enhance the natural beauty even more. The room itself was quite spacious and service was very good. The hotel itself is right on the Falls and all the other places to eat, hotels, shops, and amusement for the children are there. One could spend the whole day walking in this area and everything is available to them without going any farther than a few blocks. Some of the areas worth mentioning were Rainforest Cafe, Planet Hollywood, Hershey’s Megastore and many others. There was also a full indoor water park right next to our hotel for kids to enjoy.
Breakfasts were on the Penthouse level, once again facing the Falls. Many members also used the gym facilities as well. There is nothing like being on a treadmill watching the water cascade down in front of you!
We received our guests for a reception on Tuesday, July 17th. This event was well received by guests coming in after a long journey. We had an array of snacks and dishes laid out in a lovely room where they could meet each other after their respective journeys.
The next day we headed to the great city of Toronto for a full day tour. I have been to this city before but have never seen it as thoroughly as I saw this time with the whole group. We visited the sea-side, the main city, and had a guided tour of their parliament building. After a sumptuous lunch, we had a guided tour through the famous Casa Loma Castle. After this we went to visit CN Tower, from which we had a truly magnificent view. The group was large, so we divided in two and went all the way up to the top. Some of the brave souls walked onto the famous glass floor where it feels like you could fall thousands of feet, while the rest of us enjoyed a cup of tea while looking out at the city of Toronto.
The next day marked the start of our CME program, which went every day from 7:30 AM noon. The presenters were excellent and their material was very up to date and helpful for my practice. It was a good mix of new and young physicians presenting papers along with our very experienced speakers. We had CME meeting every day from 7.30 AM till Noon. Highlights of the CME meeting included the Al-Razi lecture by Dr. Abdul Rauf Mir, the Ibn-Sina lecture by Dr. Ghaus Malik and a very informative lecture by Dr. Scott Santibanez on prevention of a possible pandemic influenza outbreak.
On Thursday afternoon, most of the guests went with their families on a Safari tour. The Safari Tour was well liked, and all had fun on the tour and exploring the park afterwards. The Blue Bus had some unforeseen trouble getting to the park on time, but eventually, all were able to experience the park with their children. The other group, which consisted of thirteen brave members, including several ladies, went to play their First IMANA Golf Tournament in the prestigious Niagara Country Club, home of the Porter tournament. We were received there by local host, Mr. Husain, who was with us all the time and played with us. We enjoyed the golf tremendously and the winners will be announced shortly. It was followed by a very delicious dinner at the same club. From this experience, I feel that Golf tournament will become a regular part of IMANA Conventions.
After our Friday Prayers, led by former IMANA President Dr. Wahaj Ahmad, we finally had our tour of Niagara Falls. We took the ‘Maid of the Mist’ boat ride and it was a wonderful experience to be able to see the Falls from so close. We then took some time to walk around and experience the falls from the very top. The trip was capped off in spectacular fashion with our visit to Niagara-at-the-Lake Village. The British who settled in this village long ago have kept their original look and it has been restored in the same way as when they settled there. There were beautiful flower arrangements everywhere and European shops, hotel and teahouses were present all over the place.
We then went to have afternoon tea at the very famous Prince of Wales Tea house. As the tea house was somewhat small for our group, we were divided which created some delay for the second group as after the first batch finished their wonderful British high afternoon tea experience, management had to rearrange for the tea. Also some of the families with small children were not happy as the children were getting restless and were hungry and had other needs. I felt that this could have been handled better by us by preferring families with children to be included in the first group and will try to keep this in mind for future tours. Dr. Qazi did explain the situation to those families and they were satisfied.
From the tea house we went to see the Botanical gardens, and on the way we had a great photo opportunity at the famous Floral Clock. After a long day, we finally went home, tired but happy. Unfortunately, the Blue Bus had another unexpected incident, this time with a brand new bus, but were able to make it back to the hotel on another bus, with some entertainment along the way, including jokes and singing, as well as a very nice poem recited by Dr. Bashir Zikria. I was happy to hear that they were still able to enjoy themselves despite the unexpected difficulties that they had.
Saturday marked the close of our CME program, followed by a very sumptuous lunch. Our friends from Azzad and Water’s Edge talked to our members while they ate the excellent food.
In the evening, we had our annual Banquet dinner, which was excellent and enjoyed by all with hundreds in attendance. The Banquet was in a beautiful hall and started with recitation of the Qur’an by Anam Malik, the American National Anthem performed by the children of Dr. Khalique Zahir, and the Canadian National Anthem performed by Dr. Shafiq Qaadri’s children. Physicians proudly stood up for their Muslim Oath which was read by our senior member Dr. Bashir Zikria.
Our Chief Guest and keynote speaker was a very young and vibrant Parliament Member of Province of Ontario and health advisor to Ministry of health, Dr. Shafiq Qaadri. He enlightened us with his very informative speech emphasizing how minority physicians should get involved in the affairs of their homeland and how they can reach great heights like he has done. This was very inspiring for all of us. His mother and father and his relatives were among the audience and his mother, Dr. Mussarat Qaadri has been a member and chairperson of the local chapter of IMANA in the past.
To end the Convention at a high note, we had a very good entertainer, comedian Maysoon Zayid, who was a treat for all of us. She was wonderful at entertaining us with her crisp and satirical comedy jokes. Besides entertaining the audience, she is involved with helping the Palestinian children and every year she goes to Palestine and helps them. She gives 80% of her entertainment fee to these children. All of us not only enjoyed her show but were very much impressed by her generosity and candor. She entertained us for 45 minutes and every minute of it was wonderful. The audience had a very good time with this clean, family oriented entertainment which was not only good for us but also for our children.
I will end by saying that we had a good time with our friends, both old and new, and had a wonderful time. We may have had some area where we were weak and Insha’Allah will try to improve in our future conventions. We hope that you will not only come to our Morocco International Convention but also will bring your other friends and be a part of IMANA family.
Ashraf Sufi,
Convention Chairperson and President-Elect, 2006-2007
President, IMANA, 2007-2008
