Philadelphia New Routes in the Press

On March 26, 2008, the Philadelphia New Routes team officially launched the Media Partnerships for Community Engagement in Southeast Asian Health at WHYY TV12 studio. WHYY TV12 hosted the entire event, providing the location, technology and refreshments. The event included a formal introduction of the project to the Philadelphia community, a panel discussion and studio tour. During the formal presentation of the project, attendees were given a chance to witness the tri-lingual communication strategy utilized by the Philadelphia group to navigate the challenges of inter-group communication when a team needs to have clear communication across the three languages: English, Laotian and Vietnamese.

Guest included health care policy researchers from multiple academic institutions, representatives from professional associations, medical providers, local and national funders such as The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, mainstream and ethnic media representatives from the Korean, Lao and Vietnamese community, community leaders, and government representatives such as Executive Director of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Asian American Affairs and Commissioner of The White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

While the presentations and discussion panel did provide guests with a sense of importance for the project, it was the speeches given by two members of the Southeast Asian Elders Council, offering first-person testimony and highlighting some of the disparities currently affecting their community that truly demonstrated the need and importance of the Philadelphia New Routes project. The elders, one Vietnamese and one Laotian, spoke to an audience comprised of health care policy researchers, policy makers, medical providers, media representatives and community leaders. Within the context of their experiences, one can readily identify the barriers that the project plans to address.

“When my blood pressure is high, I feel tired, dizzy, and nervous. My face becomes hot and red. I don’t want to think or do anything,” the Vietnamese elder said in his native language. “High blood pressure is called a silent killer, and most people who have it don’t know until they see their doctor,” he explained, referring to the general lack of knowledge and uptake of preventive and screening services in the Southeast Asian community. “[High blood pressure] can stop a person from doing normal, everyday activities like going to work, and make a person unable to do anything well, if at all.”

The Laotian elder spoke of the linguistic challenges he faced when trying to access quality health care. “Most of the time there is no interpreter to help me and my doctor communicate,” he shared with the group. “Even when I ask for an interpreter, my doctor’s office cannot provide someone that speaks my language, which is Lao.” When a provider and patient are unable to communicate, the disconnection in communication can seriously impact the rapport between a provider and a patient. “I am not sure that my family doctor understands or listens to me” he said. This inability to clearly communicate with providers can turn a simple office visit into a complicated event. “I have to make two visits to the doctor,” he explained. “At the first visit, there is no interpreter so I just say ‘Yes’ to everything, but it is meaningless. I don’t get what I want. I make another appointment and bring someone like my daughter with me to make sure that we can communicate.”

Our project received media coverage from varying outlets, including the Philadelphia Business Journal. SEAMAAC reported that due to involvement with the project, the organization was personally invited by a funding organization to explore grant opportunities. UPenn reported interests from other funding organizations to expand this project to other Southeast Asian populations and a provider oriented publication to feature the project as a resource for medical providers and their staff.

More photos from the event available on our photo blog: http://nrphila.wordpress.com/