Clinic Reflects Ethnic Mosaic in Crenshaw

The article about the Japanese community in the Crenshaw District (“Crenshaw: Littler Tokyo,” Oct. 3) was of great interest to us at T.H.E. Clinic, a primary health clinic in Crenshaw.

The majority of our patients have been and continue to be African-American, reflecting the demographics of this community. But T.H.E. Clinic has also been the principal, indeed the only, clinic for low-income Japanese women in Los Angeles. What started as a black/Japanese-American patient population in 1974 has grown over 19 years to embrace a large Latino population and five other Asian-Pacific populations (Thai, Vietnamese, Laotian, Filipino and Tongan). The medical director for primary care services is Korean-American and speaks Japanese, Korean and Spanish.

This unique mosaic grows out of the special relationship of African- and Japanese-Americans in this neighborhood and in this community institution. My predecessor as executive director of T.H.E. Clinic was Irene Hirano, a Japanese-American who served this community with distinction before leaving to head the Japanese American National Museum.

Some of the children of older Japanese-American residents may be leaving, but the nexus between groups here is still strong and growing, with local, statewide and international reflections.

SYLVIA DREW IVIE, Executive director of T.H.E. Clinic