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Raising Concerns

President’s Commission on APIs meet with health advocates

By Raiza Beltran

Architects of the movement that pronounce health care access as a civil right, gathered in Redwood City, Calif., for the second national Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF) conference.

The conference, entitled “Voices from the Community: Building Community Readiness to Improve Asian American and Pacific Islander Health,” was the largest gathering of public policy, government, community, health and youth representatives since the first APIAHF sponsored conference in 1997. From April 27 to 29, some 600 health advocates discussed the state of API health with the President’s Advisory Commission.

“There is a lack of research in Asian American and Pacific Islander health issues,” commission member Tessie Guillermo, said. “A part of what we’re trying to do at this conference is to show participants who they need to talk to at the federal government level, and what they need to talk to them about to start getting a dialogue going between the community and researchers at the National Institute of Health.”

She added: “It’s not so important we come up with solutions at this conference, as it is to come up with strategies and action steps.”

Created from the Executive Order signed by former President Clinton in 1999, the commission issued its national report, “A People Looking Forward — Action for Access and Partnerships in the 21st Century,” earlier this year. The report, which included testimony from Asian Americans nationwide, showed that APIs continue to suffer from institutional and cultural discrimination, preventing them from receiving proper health care and advancing in the workplace.

Despite the obvious benefits gained from the commission’s report, as of yet, President Bush has not committed money in his budget for the commission.

“There is a deafening silence from Washington, which is not surprising,” Guillermo said. “Historically, we were not prioritized, they thought of us as not having a loud voice. That’s why we’re doing this at the start of the administration.”

Conference participants attended various workshops and panel discussions to share their work, and generate ideas on how to further the causes asserted by the 15-member advisory commission.

“Unfortunately, recent studies confirm what we have long asserted — that unequal access to health care and significant disparities in health status for our Asian American and Pacific Islander populations persist,” Guillermo said.

Among the issues debated by conference participants were the need for linguistic and cultural competence from health care professionals, the capacity of communities to implement the commission’s recommendations — and the lack of information in the report regarding Pacific Islander communities.

“Our issues are entirely different,” said Kim Ku’ulei Birnie, a placement officer at the Hawaii Primary Care Association. “There are cultural differences beyond description. We will have to get bona fide input from the Pacific Islander communities regarding this report.”

Initiatives for Grassroots Access director Robert Urhle was concerned about the ability of agencies to build community capacity.

“Without an infrastructure in place, [the report] falls on deaf ears,” he said. “When we go back to our communities, this doesn’t trickle down. It will stay at the federal level. We cannot go any further unless we build an infrastructure.”

Among those present at the conference were the representatives of various federal offices, including the Office of Civil Rights, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Office of Minority Health, and the Office of HIV/AIDS Policy.

Dr. Nathan Stinson, Jr., deputy secretary for Minority Health, advocated for continued pressure on government agencies to address API issues. “Please believe me that there are people who listen to what individuals are saying,” he said.