Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness
Center Opens Alameda County Office to Serve Refugees Living
with HIV
(San Francisco, March 27 2003)
Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center (A&PI Wellness
Center) has opened a new Alameda County office to address
the needs of local Burmese and Vietnamese refugees who are
living with HIV.
The office, located in downtown Oakland, offers culturally
and linguistically relevant HIV case management services,
including links to psychotherapy and mental health counseling;
treatment advocacy and education; support groups; interpretation;
and links to primary care for political and economic refugees
from Burma and Vietnam who are resettling in Alameda County
and are living with HIV. At present, A&PI Wellness Center
staff is working with two-dozen refugees living with HIV.
Conditions in Burma are ripe for the spread of HIV, including
a large heroin injector population; a growing sex industry;
poor medical treatment; and an unsafe blood supply. When refugees
arrive, they face language isolation, widespread post-traumatic
stress disorder and lack of community support among other
barriers.
“The numbers of unserved are very troubling,”
said Anthony Huynh, A&PI Wellness Center’s case
manager. “Moreover, these individuals have received
vastly incorrect information on HIV and little or no access
to services in their home countries. The Burmese have suffered
from violent torture and imprisonment by their government’s
ruling military junta. Our task, therefore, is a significant
one: to help alleviate these newcomers’ mistrust of
authority, and at the same time address both their medical
and psychological needs.”
A&PI Wellness Center received a two-year, $200,000 grant
from The California Endowment to expand services to Burmese
and Vietnamese refugees, and begin a local effort that reflects
the burgeoning HIV/AIDS epidemic in Southeast Asia. “We’re
fearful that what we’re seeing as an agency is merely
the first of many waves of need,” said John Manzon-Santos,
executive director of A&PI Wellness Center. An estimated
13% of refugees from Burma are HIV positive.
Brenda Solorzano, program officer for The Endowment commented,
“Now is the time to create a culturally competent system
to address the health needs of this underserved refugee population,
and prevent an HIV/AIDS crisis among the communities where
they live.”
A&PI Wellness Center shares its Alameda County office
space with the AIDS Project of the East Bay at 1755 Broadway,
Oakland. The phone number is 510.625.1578.
Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center’s mission
is to educate, support, empower, and advocate for Asian and
Pacific Islander (A&PI) communities – particularly
A&PIs living with or at-risk for HIV/AIDS. A&PI Wellness
Center is the oldest and most comprehensive non-profit HIV/AIDS
services organization in North America targeting A&PI
communities.
The California Endowment was established in 1996 to expand
access to affordable, quality health care for underserved
individuals and communities, and to promote fundamental improvements
in the health status of all Californians. The Endowment has
regional offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento,
Fresno and San Diego with Program staff working throughout
the state. The Endowment makes grants to organizations and
institutions that directly benefit the health and well-being
of the people of California. For more information, visit their
Web site at www.calendow.org
For more information contact:
Anthony Huynh
A&PI Wellness Center
510.625.1578
ahuynh@apiwellness.org
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