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Event Provides Free Medical Services to Asians

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

The dentist spotted a broken tooth and several cavities when he peered into the mouth of an elderly Chinese woman, but even though he spoke English and Thai, she spoke only Mandarin.

But rather than turning her away, the dentist simply held up a brightly colored sign that read “Mandarin,” and within a few minutes an interpreter was by his side carefully explaining his diagnosis to the woman in her native tongue.

The scene was one of dozens played out Saturday at the annual Asian Pacific Family Health and Cultural Day, established five years ago to address the lack of bilingual and bicultural health care providers in the San Fernando Valley.

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Compared with residents in Koreatown, Little Tokyo and other Asian enclaves, the Valley’s 124,000 Asians and Pacific Islanders have far fewer resources, which prevents many in the community from getting proper medical and dental care, according to experts. At the same time, the community has grown from 3% of the Valley’s population in 1980 to 8% in 1990.

“People don’t realize there are so many Asians in the Valley and that the community is so diverse,” said Susan Ng, a program coordinator for the Asian & Pacific Islander Council of the San Fernando Valley. “That’s one of the reasons we don’t get services out here, because people don’t know we’re here.”

As a result, the council, which is made up of a coalition of community organizations and social service providers, launched the health fair to provide free screenings and health care information.

Mammograms, flu shots, eye exams, cholesterol tests and blood pressure checks were just a few of the services offered at the fair, which drew hundreds of people to the San Fernando Valley Japanese American Community Center in Pacoima.

Interpreters from Pacific Asian Language Services, which provides free interpretation services for health care providers, were on hand to translate 10 languages, including Korean, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Thai, Japanese, Tagalog and Spanish.

“Not many people know about this service,” said Tsai-Ling Ding, a Mandarin speaker who acted as the interpreter for the dentist and the elderly Chinese woman. “But we’re trying to get the word out because it’s a free service for people who need it.”

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Indeed, Ding’s translating allowed Dr. Jiravat Wangwongvivat to explain several options for treating a broken tooth and several cavities.

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“Having an interpreter was pretty helpful because it allowed me to talk directly to the patient,” said Wangwongvivat, whose Thai Smile Dental Care office is based in North Hollywood. “The interpreters also know a lot of the technical terms, which is a good thing.”

Wangwongvivat’s booth was one of more than 30 booths set up at the health fair, which filled the gym of the Japanese American Community Center and for the first time this year overflowed into the center’s parking lot. “The exposure this year has been phenomenal,” said Violet Hom, vice president of the Asian & Pacific Islander Council.

To get the word out, volunteers posted fliers advertising the health fair in six languages at Asian markets, churches and other community service centers throughout the Valley. Buses were on hand to transport some of the Valley’s elderly Asian groups to the fair. For many in the community, the fair is a chance to receive health care in a more comfortable, unintimidating--and local--setting.

“A lot of people are relieved to see Asian doctors and Asian faces, no matter if they are Vietnamese seeing a Chinese doctor,” Ng said. “To them, at least they’re faces that seem kind of familiar.”

Through word of mouth, such subtle benefits have helped the health fair grow over the years and attract more service providers as well as potential patients.

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“I heard about it from a friend of mine, and that’s why I came,” said Taeko Oguri, a Sun Valley resident who attended the health fair for the first time Saturday. “Before, I had no idea there was anything like this out here.”

Oguri was one of more than 130 people to receive a flu shot from Wendy Cecilio and Cindy Chow, who are both nurses at the county-operated Pacoima Health Center, which is offering free flu shots through mid-December.

“It’s amazing this health fair has been here for five years and there are a lot of people who are just now finding out about it,” Chow said. “It’s a wonderful thing and a good place for people to gather resources without having to worry about language barriers.”

“It gets people to seek help who wouldn’t normally come out,” Cecilio added.

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