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 kgarcia@acmhnyc.org

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 info@ahssc.org

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