Archive for October, 2009

Cleveland, Ohio – Asian Services In Action was awarded a grant $37,004 from The Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation to support the Asian Health Access Initiative (AHAI). The funding will enable ASIA to form a unique partnership with the Cuyahoga County Board of Health (CCBH) and the Cleveland Department of Public Health (CDPH) to address childhood lead prevention and breast and cervical cancer prevention programs.

The Asian Health Access Initiative (AHAI) is a project to save the lives of Asian Americans by ensuring language is not a barrier to quality preventative health services. The project will train volunteer bilingual community health outreach workers (CHOWs) who will assist low-income families with young children to prevent childhood lead poisoning and low-income, uninsured women to prevent breast/cervical cancer. Bilingual CHOWs will “connect” clients to information, free screening, treatment, and follow-up services provided by CCBH and CDPH. With Mt. Sinai Health Care Foundation support, AHAI will link 200 low to moderate income and limited English speaking Asian Americans to these and others services to delay major illnesses and to prevent early deaths. AHAI reduces duplication of services by harnessing the language and cultural “know how” of ASIA with health prevention and education resources of CCBH and CDPH.

“We are thrilled about this new partnership with the public health departments of Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland. AHAI offers us, CCBH, and CDPH the opportunity to leverage resources and to complement each other’s services to ensure that all Cuyahoga County residents who are at high risk for lead poisoning and breast and cervical cancers are identified and treated,” said Michael Byun, ASIA Executive Director.

The issues of lead poisoning and breast/cervical cancer are great:
• 90% of all new Asian refugees are resettled in the inner-cities of Cuyahoga County; many in neighborhoods that have aging housing stock where lead contamination is high;

• Asian American women have the third highest incidence of cervical cancer, higher than Whites and similar to Blacks (National Cancer Institute, 2001); one alarming report found that only 28% of women from one Asian ethnic group surveyed had heard of a Pap test (Kim et al., 1999).

• One report showed that among Korean American women, English language proficiency is closely associated with mammogram utilization; and according to the Census, Koreans are one of the most linguistically isolated Asian ethnic populations (Juon, et al., 2000).

• 39% of the Asian American population are limited English proficient (LEP) compared to 8% of the total population; over 50% Vietnamese, Hmong, Cambodian, Laotian, Taiwanese, Korean, Bangladeshi, and Chinese Americans in our region spoke less then “very well” English (U.S. Census, 2000).

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ASIA, Inc.
Founded in 1995, Asian Services In Action’s mission is to empower Asian American and Pacific Islanders in Northeastern Ohio to access quality, culturally, and linguistically appropriate information and services. ASIA serves over 4,000 people each year. www.asiainc-ohio.org

Cuyahoga County Board of Health (CCBH)
More than 220 outstanding public health professionals including Dieticians, Epidemiologists, Health Educators, Nurses, Social Workers, Registered sanitarians and Administrative staff strive for excellence in multitude of health program and service in Ohio’s largest health district. Our mission is to prevent disease and injury, promote positive health outcomes, and provide critical services to improve the health status of the community. Learn more at www.ccbh.net

Cleveland Department of Public Health (CDPH)
Cleveland Department of Public Health (CDPH) is the local public health agency for the City of Cleveland. Formally established in 1910, the department is charged with improving the quality of life in the City of Cleveland by promoting healthy behavior, protecting the environment, preventing disease, and making the City a healthy place to live, work, and play. www.clevelandhealth.org

Cleveland, Ohio – Asian Services In Action was awarded a grant from The National Asian Women’s Health Organization (NAWHO) to increase vaccination among Asian seniors for pneumococcal disease and influenza in northeastern Ohio.

NAWHO’s National Asian Immunization Project (NAIP) is a groundbreaking cooperative agreement with CDC, which allows for the first comprehensive national outreach effort to Asian American communities about the importance of immunization. Through this project, NAWHO will work with ASIA to reach Asian Americans and their health care providers and eliminate missed opportunities in vaccinations and vaccine education.

Since NAIP’s inception, the project has served over 41,000 Asian Americans, who have accessed immunization information through community forums, health fairs, and other community activities. Another 2.8 million Asian Americans were exposed to immunization information through Asian media. Over 1,700 health care providers were educated about the need to inform Asian American patients about vaccine-preventable diseases, particularly Hepatitis B, pneumococcal disease, and influenza.

“Given the recent concerns over H1N1 and the flu season already upon us, we are extremely pleased to receive this support to assist the most vulnerable among our Asian American population,” said Michael Byun, ASIA Executive Director.

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ASIA, Inc.
Founded in 1995, Asian Services In Action’s mission is to empower Asian American and Pacific Islanders in Northeastern Ohio to access quality, culturally, and linguistically appropriate information and services. ASIA serves over 4,000 people each year. www.asiainc-ohio.org

NAWHO
NAWHO is a national non-profit health organization with a mission to achieve health equity for Asian women and families. Our goals are:
• To raise awareness about the health needs of Asian Americans
through research and education;
• To support Asian Americans as decision-makers through leadership
development and advocacy; and
• To strengthen systems serving Asian Americans through partnerships
and capacity building.
Founded in 1993, NAWHO has served as a powerful voice for the health of Asian American women and families. We have provided research and information about the health of Asian Americans to the public health field, as well as critically-needed health education to the Asian American community. Through innovative programs and groundbreaking partnerships, NAWHO has broken the myth of the Asian American “healthy model minority” – improving breast cancer screening outreach, increasing awareness of diabetes risk, and closing the gaps in immunization coverage. Viewed as a results-oriented organization that is able to create innovative solutions and carry out new strategies for change, policy makers and opinion leaders have time and again recognized NAWHO as an effective leader in Asian American health. www.nawho.org

Cleveland/Akron, Ohio – Asian Services In Action was awarded a two-year grant from the Office on Violence Against Women, U.S. Department of Justice to enhance culturally and linguistically specific services for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking program in northeastern Ohio. The funding will support the Northeastern Ohio Asian Women’s Leadership Initiative (NALI).

NALI involves a partnership with eight Asian ethnic women’s group, Jewish Family Service Association of Cleveland, YWCA of Greater Cleveland, and the Asian Pacific Islander Women and Family Safety Center (Seattle, WA). The Initiative will:
1) Empower eight Asian immigrant and refugee women’s groups – often the first link to battered women in their respective ethnic communities – by working with groups to develop culturally and linguistically specific strategies and by providing training to the associations’ members so they are equipped to provide outreach and education to victims and their communities;
2) To strengthen the capacity of the region’s only pan-Asian social service agency – Asian Services In Action, Inc. (ASIA), to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate case management, supportive and immigration legal services, and systems advocacy for Asian immigrant and refugee women and their families; and
3) To strengthen Asian ethnic women’s groups and ASIA’s linkages to mainstream providers and court/law enforcement/medical systems to reduce barriers and to create greater points of access for victims.

In the northeastern Ohio region, representing nearly 40% of the state’s population (and 33% of state’s Asian Pacific Islander community), there is currently no domestic violence, sexual assault, and other services that specifically address the needs of Asian Pacific Islander immigrant and refugee women. In the region, it is estimated that 3,575 Asian Pacific Islander women experienced physical assault by an intimate partner at least once during their lifetime; and 2,081 reported having been raped.

“Over the years, victims and their allies have contacted our agency seeking help despite the fact our agency had no formal domestic violence program or services. With support from the Office on Violence Against Women we are now able to meet the needs of Asian women in our community who are victims of domestic violence,” said Michael Byun, ASIA Executive Director.