Zaka Shafiq, is the majority owner of AFC Urgent Care in Methuen, North Andover, Swampscott, Beverly, and Haverhill. He sat down with Valley Patriot publisher Tom Duggan on his podcast at the Studio 21 Podcast Café in Salem NH last month to talk about their efforts to help immigrants get physicals to become United States Citizens. (FULL VIDEO BELOW)
Shafiq pointed out that he is an immigrant from Pakistan and as such, it was very important for him to offer immigration physicals to those wanting to become U.S. Citizens.
Zaka grew up in Pakistan and immigrated to Canada where he lived in the Toronto area. He moved to New York City in 2012 where he lived for a few years working on his grad degree like his father who also got his grad degree in New York. “So, I was following [my father’s] footsteps. I was there for a couple of years and when I was living there, I wanted to do something on my own and build my own business.”
“In New York, everything is moving at a pace five times faster than everywhere else. But I felt very much at home, and I loved it there,” he said. “It was like my second home. I thought I had found my place in the world. It was absolutely amazing, and I was there for 2 1/2 years.”
Shafiq says that while in New York he noticed a number of urgent care clinics popping up. “These were places where you could go see a doctor without an appointment. It was covered by your insurance. It was quick and easy. It took about half an hour, and the cost was very reasonable. It was quick, easy, affordable, convenient care. So, I realized this was a great service and I wanted to do something along those lines.”
That’s when, he says, he found American Family Care, which is a franchise.
“It’s the only franchise of urgent care clinics in the United States. They had some franchise opportunities available on the North Shore, so I decided to sign up and come to Massachusetts.”
Zaka said when he moved to Massachusetts he settled in Beverly.
“This state, the North Shore in particular, has been the most amazing place to move to. It’s super friendly. I know there’s a reputation that people are not friendly enough, but that could not be further from the truth.”
“So, I had two locations in Beverly and Swampscott and we we’re doing fairly well and then the pandemic hit and things got really crazy in the urgent care world. At that point in time, Lisa and Tom wanted to make a change, so I acquired their locations North Andover and Methuen.”
Zaka now lives in North Andover.
FAST AND CONVENIENT – EXACTLY WHAT PATIENTS WANT
Asked what he is most proud of at AFC, Zaka said it was giving patients exactly what they want.
“The majority of our patients are in and out the door in 45 minutes or less. We are all about being the easy, affordable, convenient option. We have amazing quality doctors, nurse practitioners, and physicians’ assistants who work there. They’ve worked in the ER, they’ve worked in critical care medicine most of them have 5 to 10 years’ experience. But they’re very experienced and well trained medical professionals and that is a privilege to work with that team and be able to help and support them and give them the care that they need.”
WHAT ARE IMMIGRATION PHYSICALS?
“We started doing immigration physicals about six years ago. It was something that was near and dear to me because obviously, I’m new to this country and I went through it myself. I know that the process of becoming a citizen can take years and years, and it’s got a lot of pit falls, there’s a lot of bureaucracy involved. That’s why we wanted to do this.”
“Immigration physicals are very straightforward when you are in the United States or want to come to the United States and you want what was called a permanent legal residency card; you need to pass a medical exam.”
“They want to make sure you’re not carrying tuberculosis, or syphilis, or certain STI‘s. They’re basically trying to make sure that you’re a healthy person who’s going to contribute to the United States. It’s a very straightforward exam. There’s a urine test, and a blood test. It takes about half an hour to do all the testing. Then, when we get the test results, we call you back in. A doctor sees you in about 15 minutes tops, and just about everybody passes unless you have a very specific issue that disqualifies you.”
“So, just about everybody who wants to get a green card has to go through that process and we offer it at all of our locations. We do hundreds of those each month. The thing to know about us is, we have a lot of folks on our team who are actually immigrants themselves. So, we really are working with people who have been through this process themselves.”
“The thing that we do that you won’t find in other places, is that the day that you want to be seen to start the process, we get you in that day. Most other places make an appointment for you four or five weeks out. But we get you in that day. We get your testing done, and the results usually take about 5 to 6 days to come back. Then we schedule you for your civil service immigration physical, which means that we can get you seen within two or three weeks. Most other places you don’t even have your first appointment within that period of time.”◊