A&PI Wellness Center Wellness Clinic Update

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Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center announces grand opening of free community health clinic

Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center is proud to announce the opening of the Wellness Clinic, a free primary health care clinic serving San Francisco's diverse community with special expertise in Asian and Pacific Islander, and gay, bisexual and transgender health. The Wellness Clinic will be located in San Franciscos Tenderloin neighborhood. Services will be available beginning March 2011. Our HIV specialty care clinic hours on Mondays will continue, uninterrupted.

For more information about our services, please contact Carlos Bermudez, Director of Health Services, at 415-292-3420 ext. 374 or visit our Wellness Clinic online.

About our provider team

The Wellness Clinic's staff is comprised of a dedicated team of professional volunteers, serving in every capacity from physician to nurse and medical assistant to receptionist. Our team is highly qualified and committed to delivering the highest standard of primary medical care in a culturally-sensitive environment. If you are uninsured or under-insured, we can take care of you. If you are Asian, Pacific Islander, or LGBT, you will feel comfortable and safe in our hands. Lance Toma, Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center's executive director, says "we're grateful that such successful medical professionals are driven to give back to the community without financial compensation. They each bring their personal and professional experiences to bear in serving our community with compassion and sensitivity. They are a trusted resource."

Each month, we will introduce a member of our Wellness Clinic staff starting with our Medical Director, Dr. Jason Tokumoto. Watch for our monthly updates! Better yet, visit our Wellness Clinic in March to meet our staff in person!

Meet Dr. Jason Tokumoto, Our Medical Director!

The first thing you'll notice about Dr. Tokumoto is his disarming smile and laugh. His high energy and personable nature have a way of making you feel comfortable as soon as you meet him. He is also a highly qualified doctor who is passionate about addressing the needs of underserved communities in culturally appropriate ways. With decades of medical practice under his belt and experience in community clinics, he's uniquely qualified to lead the Wellness Clinic. He's excited about the March opening, saying "a clinic that caters to the underserved, delivers compassionate care, addresses the whole person and is open to nonwestern approaches is desperately needed." He pauses, his eyes lighting up, then says "I believe that the Wellness Clinic can serve as a model for what medical care should be about."

Over the past year, Dr. Tokumoto has worked tirelessly to make the Wellness Clinic a reality. Asked about his commitment to culturally appropriate, patient-centered medical care, he says "with health care undergoing major reforms, it is still important to remember that the center of health care is the patient." Dr. Tokumoto believes that all patients should be treated as a whole person, not just as a walking illness or case number, and the only way to provide the best care is to address all aspects of the individual. "In order for a provider to deliver the best medical care--medical care that is compassionate and nurturing--it is extremely important to understand the cultural experiences shaping the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of the individual."

Jason Tokumoto, MD is board certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases. He is an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco where he precepts first year medical students in the PRIME program for students interested in working with underserved populations. He is also clinical coordinator of the National HIV/AIDS Clinicians' Consultation Center located at San Francisco General Hospital providing consultation to US clinicians who have questions about the management of their HIV patients, pregnant HIV patients, and health care workers exposed to a potentially infectious fluid. He manages 50 Native American patients living with HIV at the Native American Health Center in San Francisco. He has a special interest in complementary and alternative medicine in HIV and has written chapters on this subject in 3 major textbooks.

IN OUR INAUGURAL UPDATE:

Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center announces grand opening of free community health clinic

About our provider team

Meet Dr. Jason Tokumoto, Our Medical Director!

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