On Halloween two years ago, Dr. Feroz Padder, a cardiologist who lives in Columbia and has an office in Laurel, became concerned when he couldn't reach his wife, Amira.

She was to take their 9-year-old daughter, Ayesha, and 4-year-old son, Ali, to a swimming class that afternoon, but Padder could not get in touch with her at home or on her cell phone.

So he called the police and local hospitals. "I finally talked to a hospital dispatcher who said they didn't have any accident patients, but that there had been three fatalities," Padder said. "I said to God, 'I'll give you everything I have for it not to be them.' "

But it was them. Padder's wife was traveling east on Interstate 70 near Hagerstown when her vehicle crossed the median and hit an 18-wheeler truck head on.

"My family was killed -- gone," Padder said, recalling that night in a low voice, in a recent interview.

The moment he was told of the tragedy, he said, he decided to form a foundation, in his family's honor, to help others.

"It came to me while I was on the phone," Padder said. "So, after the accident, I began putting part of my income into the Ayesha and Ali Padder Foundation."

Through that foundation, Padder and his two siblings, who are also doctors who live in Columbia, beginning Oct. 10 will offer free medical and psychiatric services in Laurel, one day a week, to uninsured local residents.

On Fridays from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Padder's younger brother, Columbia-area psychiatrist Tanveer Padder, will treat patients at Padder's Van Dusen Road practice in Laurel. Their sister, Gulshan Nazir, a family practice physician, will handle medical appointments on Friday afternoons from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. at her office at 8367 Cherry Lane, also in Laurel.

If any patients in the free clinic program need to see a heart specialist, they will be referred to Padder, who will see them for free.

Nazir, Padder's sister, said the free service does more than fill a void for uninsured residents. It allows her family to heal.

"We all want to help him (Padder) with this and are excited about it, because it has been a really hard time for the whole family," Nazir said. "His family was his whole world and he lost them, but God gave him the strength to do this (free clinic)."

Prominent photos

As patients walk into Padder's office, it is hard not to notice the beautiful smiles on the faces of his two children, shown in a silver-framed photo on his desk. His daughter, Ayesha, in a navy blue jumper and white blouse has her arms wrapped around her brother, Ali, dressed in a navy blue sleeveless sweater and white shirt.

Padder said he spent the entire month before the accident taking his children to amusement parks, swimming and traveling. When he had to go on a business trip, he asked his son if he'd miss him.

"He said 'yes,' and then he said, 'Dad, once you love somebody, they always stay in your heart,' " Padder said.

Holding the photo with tears streaming down his face, Padder said the foundation work "keeps me going. I miss them a lot, but I don't feel they're gone because I have the picture here and they are here," he said, pointing to his heart.

"At the time of the accident, I just thought that God didn't just want me to take care of just my children, but many others."

In addition to the free clinic in Laurel, Padder plans to give out 10 needs-based scholarships in Howard County this year, something he already does in his native India and nearby areas.

"This year, we gave 15 scholarships (totaling) $50,000 to students in Kashmir," Padder said.

Padder also paid for the weddings of 10 young women who grew up in orphanages in Kashmir. He also is setting up a loan program for small businesses there and buying a vehicle for a mobile eye clinic in Pakistan. The unit will be named after Padder's late wife, who grew up and went to medical school in Pakistan.

On his daughter's birthday, Sept. 5, Padder and his family took bags of toys to children at the National Institute of Health's Children's Inn, a facility for extremely ill children and their parents. He plans to do something for the children at the Inn on his son's birthday, Nov. 8.

Padder has other projects he wants to implement as well, including a boarding school in Kashmir. When all of the programs he wants to start are in place, Padder will solicit donations. But for now, the majority of the money for the foundation comes from him.

"My wife and family always helped others," he said. "Even before the accident, we all gave 10 percent of our income to charity. Now I want to do even more."

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