Z.I.A.D. Healthcare for the Underserved Inc. is a 501c3 Non Profit organization that came to be in 2002 when four individuals sat down and looked for ways to help provide access to the uninsured. Specifically they looked at those that fall through cracks, some 46,000,000 people in the United States. These are the people that work part time jobs (making them unqualified for governmental assistance), and receive no coverage from their employers, and cannot afford the premiums of health insurance.
Z.I.A.D. derives its name from the names of its founders Ray Zak, Iqbal Nasser MD, Ibraham Ahmed ND, Theodore Densley MD. Z.I.A.D. primarily works with private doctors to find a primary care home for the uninsured on a sliding scale program where they receive reduced office costs based on federal poverty guidelines.
If you are a primary care office and would like to participate in the program please call 313-815-8767.
A family health history becomes useful when it records who was affected, the specific condition, and the age at diagnosis—and then informs focused preventive-care questions.
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On August 9, 2022 Ray Zak the president of the board of ZIAD received a prestigious award from the Wayne County Health Authority for the work done by him in leadership of ZIAD Healthcare for the Underserved.
The plaque was awarded and titled “The Best Safety Net Award” with the following inscription:
“On The ninth day of August , 2022, in recognition for extraordinary commitment and service to community health care, we recognize Ray Zak.” The plaque was signed by Gail Warden and Chris Allen of the Wayne County Health Authority. Congratulations to Ray Zak on his devoted leadership of Z.I.A.D.
ZIAD Health Care for the Underserved participated in a health and community fair at Resurrection Lutheran Church Kelly Rd., Detroit, MI.. ZIAD provided the community with information on services that are available for the uninsured, and also provided Free Blood Pressure screening.The event was a cooperative program of three Lutheran churches in the Detroit area. Many residents turned out for the free information, screening, community togetherness, and some free hot dogs. Click here to see pictures from the event.
As always for information on health care call ZIAD at 313-815-8767
A Letter from the HeartDear Friends of ZIAD,
I have been blessed my entire life with the luxury of health insurance. My Father provided for me when I was a child, and I have been fortunate enough in my adult life to provide coverage for myself and my family. Recently, however, my son was stricken with a very rare blood disorder, and we were forced to live in a children’s hospital in Los Angeles for many weeks. I was able to see, first hand, how such a tragedy can financially ruin a family.
The bill for merely the first two weeks in the hospital came to just over $99,000 dollars. One bag of transfusable blood alone cost over $700 dollars. Our son faces a minimum of another 12 to 18 months of treatment. Without insurance, we would have been forced to declare bankruptcy, at the very least. There are thousands of families seeking care for loved ones with life-threatening and chronic afflictions every day. Sadly, the truth is there are many, many families that are turned away from facilities in this great country, only because they do not have enough medical insurance. Please help the gracious people of ZIAD provide care for the underinsured. If you have ever had a loved one need medical attention, you know the urgency of their mission.
Thank you, and may God bless your family with perfect health,
Paul Ganus
Nearly 46 million Americans, including more than 8 million children, are living without health insurance – forced to gamble every day that they won’t get sick or injured. That’s a risk no one should have to take. Uninsured Americans live sick and die younger than those with health insurance. Just one serious illness or injury can wipe out an uninsured family’s bank account, and the problem is getting worse.
To provide health care, health education, physical fitness and other programs to uninsured, under insured, poor, working poor families, and individuals. To provide access to health care in underserved areas, and to the frail elderly.
1) Expand the network of Private doctors offices, and services working with Z.I.A.D. Healthcare for the Underserved that provide primary healthcare as well as other services to underserved, poor, and working poor, and on a sliding scale basis to other geographical areas.
2) Expand services and assistance to the frail elderly.
3) To participate and collaborate with other organizations helping the uninsured or underinsured.
3) To participate and collaborate with Specialty, Pharmacy, Hospital, Dental and other programs to help the uninsured.
4) To identify, apply for and obtain grants that provide screening and outreach to identify disease early up.
Affiliates:
Donations: ZIAD Health Care for the Underserved Inc. is open to all donations public and private and has received Tax Exempt Status with the IRS (#75-3080830).
Donations can be made to ZIAD Health Care via PayPal. Below are buttons that you can use to donate now. We appreciate your donations very much.
A useful family health history does more than list diseases. Record which biological relatives were affected, their specific conditions, and their approximate ages at diagnosis. Bring that information to preventive visits and ask whether it changes the type, timing, or frequency of screening; whether risk factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol, or glucose need closer attention; and whether genetic counseling would be appropriate. Family history can change risk without determining your future.
You do not need a perfect family tree before starting. A partial but organized history can still help a clinician identify useful follow-up questions and preventive-care decisions.
A family health history records health conditions among biological relatives, living and deceased. It can reflect inherited factors, shared environments, and health behaviors. A recurring condition may indicate increased risk, but it does not mean that you will inevitably develop the same condition. The CDC’s family health history overview provides a useful starting point for understanding that distinction.
Family history is a preventive-care input, not a diagnosis. It helps place routine information—such as age, symptoms, blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose, smoking history, and prior screening—into a broader risk context. It also does not replace preventive care recommended for people without a known family pattern.
Biological relatives are central when assessing inherited risk. Information about adoptive relatives, partners, and other household members may still reveal shared exposures or behaviors, but it is not evidence of genetic inheritance. If biological family information is unavailable because of adoption, estrangement, a small family, or early deaths, tell the clinician that as well; the absence of information is different from a documented absence of disease.
Start with both sides of the biological family. Include parents, siblings and half-siblings, children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews when information is available. You do not need to contact everyone at once. A conversation with one well-informed relative may establish the first draft.
For each relative, try to record:
Age at diagnosis often matters as much as the condition. For example, a disease appearing unusually early may raise different questions from the same disease first diagnosed late in life. Multiple affected relatives or several primary cancers in one person can also make a pattern more significant.
Begin with what relatives remember, then verify consequential details when practical. Medical records, pathology reports, death certificates, registries, and obituaries may help clarify a diagnosis or age. This can be especially important when the difference between cancer types would affect hereditary-risk assessment.
A notebook, spreadsheet, or simple family tree can work. The National Human Genome Research Institute also identifies My Family Health Portrait as a tool for creating a family tree and health-history chart that can be printed or shared with a clinician.
Mark uncertain information clearly instead of converting a family story into a definite diagnosis. Write “possibly colon cancer, diagnosed in her 40s” rather than silently dropping either the uncertainty or the age. That tells the clinician what may matter and what needs clarification.
Treat the record as a living document. Update it when a relative receives a new diagnosis, when you learn the correct primary cancer site, or when genetic test results become available. Share relevant updates with biological relatives who may benefit from knowing about the pattern.
Bring the summary to a primary-care or preventive visit. Do not simply hand over a long list; highlight early diagnoses, repeated conditions, multiple affected close relatives, and known inherited variants. These are the details most likely to focus the conversation.
Useful questions include:
The answer will depend on the condition and the closeness, number, and ages of affected relatives. For colorectal cancer, for example, concern can increase when a parent or sibling was diagnosed before age 50 or when several close relatives were affected. A clinician may then consider an earlier, more frequent, or different screening approach.
Family history also belongs in cardiovascular prevention discussions. The American Heart Association’s family-history guidance explains its relevance to heart disease, stroke, and related risk factors. The practical response is not to assume disease is unavoidable, but to ask how the family pattern should inform assessment of modifiable risks. Readers can also review how chronic conditions fit into broader prevention and long-term management strategies.
Genetic counseling is not the same as automatically ordering a genetic test. A counselor can examine the family pattern, discuss the possible value and limitations of testing, and explain what positive, negative, or uncertain results could mean.
Features that can support a hereditary-cancer evaluation include cancer at a young age, multiple affected relatives, several primary cancers in one person, male breast cancer, or a known harmful inherited variant in the family. The National Cancer Institute’s genetic testing fact sheet explains these considerations and why testing decisions require context.
When hereditary cancer testing is being considered and an affected relative is available, testing often begins with that person because the result may be more informative for the wider family. A negative result does not always erase concern, particularly when no known family variant was identified first.
The most useful family history leads to a focused next step: confirming a diagnosis, adjusting a screening discussion, monitoring a modifiable risk factor, or considering genetic counseling. It should not be treated as a forecast of what must happen.
Risk information can also be misleading when presented without context. If a clinician or risk tool gives you a percentage, ask about the baseline risk and the absolute difference—not only the relative change. Our guide to relative risk and absolute risk explains why both numbers matter.
Start with the information available, label uncertainty, and update the record over time. A concise, specific family history is more useful than a dramatic but vague family story—and it gives preventive conversations a clearer place to begin.
Collect information across several generations when possible, including parents, siblings, children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces, and nephews. Prioritize close biological relatives and specific diagnoses rather than delaying because distant-family details are unavailable.
Tell your clinician that the history is unknown or limited. Routine preventive care still matters, and decisions can draw on your age, health measurements, symptoms, exposures, and personal medical history. A limited family structure can also make inherited patterns harder to recognize, so “unknown” should not be interpreted as “no family risk.”
Not necessarily. The cancer type, age at diagnosis, number and closeness of affected relatives, and presence of known inherited variants all matter. Genetic counseling can help determine whether testing is likely to be informative and which relative should be tested first.
Review it before preventive visits and whenever a relative receives a significant diagnosis, a diagnosis becomes more precise, or a genetic test identifies a familial variant. Keeping an updateable digital or paper copy makes those changes easier to track.