To help raise awareness about hepatitis B in the Korean community, Nicole Kim volunteers her time to give educational presentations in Korean and English.
Kim, a junior studying human biology at Stanford University and an intern at the Asian Liver Center, has always been interested in issues of public health, but she said this is also personally important because her mother has tested positive for the disease.
Kim was just one of the participants in the S.F. Hep B Free campaign’s first volunteer speakers workshop on March 13.
The purpose of the workshop session is to train interested individuals to give informative hepatitis B presentations to Bay Area Asian American community groups, in order to achieve the campaign’s goal of having every Asian in the city tested for the disease. Currently, the campaign hosts big meetings, but would like to expand outreach efforts by having volunteer speakers give presentations to existing groups on a more intimate level, according to Meredith Bergin, special projects coordinator for the Asian Liver Center.
More volunteer speakers are wanted, especially those that are local and can speak a variety of Asian languages.
“This is a great way to give back to your community at the grassroots level, and to ensure that your friends and family who may be infected by hepatitis B will be protected or taken care of,” Bergin said. “We welcome anyone interested in being involved, either as a speaker or a group who would like to schedule a presentation.”
Volunteer speaker Ching Wong said many in the API community, particularly the Vietnamese, have misconceptions about hepatitis B, specifically how it is transmitted. He hopes to change that.
“We all have a responsibility to take care of ourselves,” said Wong, project director of Viet Hep B Free at UCSF. “Since we live in a country with good resources, we should take advantage of that. We can get rid of this disease, and with the free and low cost screenings and vaccines today, there are no excuses.”
To participate in the volunteer workshop and to learn more about the S.F. Hep B Free campaign, visit sfhepbfree.org
or contact administrative coordinator Thanh Huynh at thuynh@awfoundation.com.