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Networking Collaboration Community
Empowerment
News from Council May 2012
Mental Health Services under
Healthcare Reform: OMH
On May 18, 2012, Asian Health and Social Service Council (AHSSC) held its monthly session at the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center located at 139 Centre Street in Manhattan. The title of the presentation was “Mental Health Services under Healthcare Reform: OMH”.
Dr. K. Loan Mai gave a presentation titled: Medicaid Long Term Care: Redesign and Impact on AAPI Communities”. The New York Medicaid Redesign Team was tasked by Governor Cuomo to find ways to reduce costs and increase quality and efficiency in the Medicaid program. Medicaid is the largest health insurance program in NYS and spends more than $53 billion annually to provide health care to more than 4.7 million people in need. Dr. Mai also presented the APA fact sheet on “Mental Health Disparities: Asian Americans”. According to the statistics, Asian Americans are less likely to use mental health services than other populations and US-born Asians are more likely than foreign-born Asian Americans to seek help for mental health problems from medical care providers, mental health providers, or alternative medicine sources. Shame and stigma are believed to figure prominently in the lower utilization rates of AAPI communities.
The first keynote speaker, Stephen Zhou, Executive Board Member of NYCAAMH, Asian Mental Health Program Coordinator at Elmhurst Hospital Center, discussed some of the challenges of the mental health clients before treatment. One of the challenges was that patients were often unprepared when they went to see providers. They were usually
often unprepared when they went to see providers. They were usually intimidated by the complex health system and often did not prepare necessary medical records and medication list. In addition, shame and stigma prevent people from seeking treatment until situations got out of control and patients did not want to discuss their issues with their providers.
The second keynote speaker, Qiuyuan Liu, Case Manager/Asian Services Specialist, of the Association for Rehabilitative Case Management and Housing, Inc. (ACMH) presented its Community Residence Program called 74 Avenue A. Ms. Liu stated that a total of 480 were served between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2011 of which 4% were Asian. The goal of ACMH is to reduce the human and financial costs of hospitalization and homelessness while assisting clients to achieve their personal goals. It is a transitional program with a length of stay expectation of 2 years or less. Some of the criteria for admissions include: at least 18 years of age, have a primary diagnosis of mental illness, may have a co-occurring substance abuse disorder, meet NYS criteria for a serious mental illness, demonstrate current functional limitations in self-care, activities of daily living, or social interactions due to mental illness, are capable of self-administering medications with support and reminders, demonstrate capacity for self-preservation and others. To make referrals Kristina Garcia can be contacted at [email protected]
The third keynote speaker, Angela M. Hebner, Project Coordinator of Health Home Educational Initiative, Baltic Street AEH, Inc, explained that Health Homes are a network of care providers led by one group that will take primary responsibility to make sure all the health care needs of a member are understood and met. Ms. Hebner stated that there was a lack of coordination among different providers so health could provide a solution to the problem. People who are on Medicaid and have a diagnosis of serious mental illness and ongoing (chronic) conditions can enroll in a Health Home. Each member will be assigned to a care manager to refer the member to resources to help increase the member’s knowledge about his/her conditions/diseases and self-management capabilities.
“Agencies Sharing” Anderson Deng, District Manager at Healthfirst, presented a new nutritional education program which included the kinds of food that people should eat to stay healthy.
“North Star” We are pleased to announce the Asian Health and Social Service Council (AHSSC) has begun the first phase of a strategic plan, the North Star Project, to address the need for service access and workforce development in the AAPI health, social service and behavioral health fields. Your participation and support at this time is crucial. As leaders in the education and service community, we ask for your assistance with this first phase. As we all know, there is a great disparity in the recruitment and retention of AAPIs into the service sectors. To address this critical need which impacts the level of service access, cultural congruence of treatment and treatment effectiveness, the
committee for the North Star Project has put together a survey to gather data on the motivation to enter into the service field serving the AAPI community. The survey is targeted to any recent or current graduate students who are of AAPI heritage. Whether they are currently enrolled, or in an internship or recently graduated, the North Star Project needs their input. They may or may not be currently interested in working in the AAPI service community; they may or may not have prior experience serving the AAPI community. However, it is important that they are of AAPI heritage, have been or are currently enrolled in a graduate program and are currently living/going to school in NYC. If you are connected to or know of those who fulfill these criteria, please forward and strongly encourage them to complete the survey at the following link. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/P98Q83H It is a brief motivation survey that should take no more than 10 minutes. The participant can chose to be anonymous or be part of our larger study in the next several months. In all of this, the North Star Project aims to be a source of support, knowledge, network and opportunity for those entering into the service sectors serving the AAPI community. To do so, your assistance is needed to snowball this initial research endeavor. The North Star Project will be reaching out further in the next several months to ramp-up for the next several phases and hope we can count on you for this call to action. AHSSC is sponsoring three key events in the next several months to build social action research projects, community action plans, and career building support systems to address engagement and retention of potential and new AAPIs into the social service, behavioral health and medical care fields. The culmination of which will launch the North Star Program, a program with a mission to offer financial assistance as well as mentorship and career guidance to new AAPI professionals joining in the work of serving the AAPI communities in NYC. It is with respect to your service, a plea to your commitment and a call to action that AHSSC and the planning committee of the North Star Project are turning to you. Your participation at the upcoming events, an organizational sponsorship of a networking and job fair booth, and/or a direct tax deductible donation to the North Star Project are just some of the ways that your support can make an impact. To make a donation at this time, please contact or send to “Asian Health and Social Service Council”. Thank you for your commitment, assistance and support. If you have any questions, inquiries or words of support, we can be contacted at 646-688-3312.
Executive
Members
Senior Advisors:
Selina Chan, Chris
Cho, Kenneth Lam,
Edward Ma, Susan
Wong
President:
John Tsoi
Vice President:
Maggie Wong
Treasurer:
An Hoang
Secretaries:
Teresa Lin
Eva Wong
Committee Chairs
Event Committee:
Frank Liang
James Leung
Housing
Committee:
Rosie Wong
Media Committee:
Jessie Zheng
Dan Liu
Membership
Committee:
Fandi Moy
David Chau
North Star
Committee:
May Lai
Research
Committee:
Kieu Loan Mia
Social Service
Committee:
Jane Wong
Serene Nie
Website
Committee:
Hadrian Chan
Legal Consultant:
Pauline Yeung
Accountant:
Michael Chan
Address: 39 Bowery, PMB 135 New York NY 10002 Tel: 646-688-3312 [email protected]
Getting your clients ready:
Enrollment to Managed Long Term Care
Date: 6/13/2012 (Wednesday)
Time: 9:30—11:30am
Place: Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association
62 Mott Street, 2nd Floor New York NY 10013
Guest Speaker: Paul Ng, President of CCBA
Moderator: Pauline Yeung-Ha, Esq. Grimaldi & Yeung LLP
Panelists: Susan Aldrich, Exec. VP, ElderServe Health
Karl Dehm, VP of Operations, VNSNY CHOICE Health
Plans
Matt Lippitt, VP of Business Development, Centerlight
Shannon Prasad, Marketing Associate, GuildNet
Co-sponsors: Chinese Consolidated
Benevolent Association
Next Monthly Meeting Agenda