Community Health and Healing Fair offers free acupuncture and massages in Gainesville

East Gainesville residents learned about wellness and financial literacy on the first Saturday of Black History Month.

Those attending the Community Health and Healing Fair were giving free massages and acupuncture and provided financial literacy information by employees from PNC Bank.

Held Saturday at the Library Partnership in northeast Gainesville, the event was hosted by the American Universal Medicine Institute.

“I created this event because I wanted people to have a wider range of medical possibilities,” said Khalid A. Shakoor, who founded American Universal Medicine in 2015 to educate people about wellness, literacy and finances.

Shakoor, a doctor of acupuncture and oriental medicine, said he gained his interest for helping others from his mother.

“I’ve had a lot of great mentors in my life,” Shakoor said. “My mother constantly gave out clothes and food. I was raised to give back to the community.”

Other vendors at the fair included Gainesville Community Acupuncture, Academy for Five Element Acupuncture and Florida Acupuncture and Counseling Inc.

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, acupuncture is the practice of penetrating the skin with thin, metallic needles to treat common problems such as back, neck and joint pain.

Acupuncture points are believed to stimulate the central nervous system. The practice is done to help stimulate the body’s natural healing abilities and promote physical and emotional well-being.

Taking care of yourself holistically is important, such as your diet and the music you listen to, Shakoor said.

He said he instructs people about medicine, health and finance on his radio segment billed as “Music and Medicine Live and Direct” from 4-8 p.m. on 92.1 FM on Sundays that features reggae, funk, Afro beats and jazz.

Shakoor is the director of marketing and promotions at 92.1 FM and said media is a powerful tool to address issues in the Black community.

“Your mind functions from the heart and the drum connects to the heart,” Shakoor said. “The healing is in the food. Sickness comes from your lifestyle and diet.”

Eric Abreu has been a clinical intern at Academy for Five Element Acupuncture since August and appreciates Shakoor for hosting events like this in east Gainesville to make alternative medicine more accessible to residents.

“People are looking for alternatives but there’s nowhere to go, but when they go to fairs like this, they can gain knowledge from it,” Abreu said.

He said he suffered from skin problems and with the help of a few dietary changes and natural antibiotics, the boils on his face were removed.

“Just remember that the body is a miracle,” Abreu said. “If you give it the right energy, you can start healing your mind, body and spirit.”

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Damita Hartz and Jason Hartz, a married couple who founded Florida Acupuncture and Counseling, said Shakoor is one of the teachers of its mindfulness classes. They also provide acupuncture, wellness and counseling services to veterans, college students and low-income families in the Gainesville area.

“We always want to bring awareness to the services we provide,” Damita Hart said.

“We really want to be involved more and we’re glad to be working with Dr. Shakoor to reach out to the community to show them what we have to offer,” Jason Hartz said.

Jennifer Downey is an acupuncture physician at Gainesville Community Acupuncture and has been providing acupuncture services for 22 years.

“I love libraries and I love that the fair is happening on the east side of town,” Downey said. “I myself had an illness and I didn’t get relief from it until I started doing acupuncture and using other Chinese herbal medicine and making dietary changes.”

Swama Mayi attended the event and volunteered to undergo the acupuncture process through Downey.

“She’s good and helped me the last time with my immune system and lungs,” Mayi said. “She’s very gentle with her practice and makes me feel comfortable.”

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Massages, acupuncture and more provided at health fair in NE Gainesville