Asian, Pacific Islander Groups in Orange County To Form Coalition To Study Members’ Health, Insurance Status

Five small community groups in Orange County will form a coalition to conduct the first countywide study of the health issues faced by their more than 44,000 elderly Asian and Pacific Islander members, the Orange County Register reports. The partnership, called the Asian and Pacific Islander Healthy Elders Project, will collect information on the health status of its elderly members and determine the number that have health insurance. "We feel, as a whole, that Asian seniors are underserved by groups used to serving English-speaking seniors. Our people don't know the services are there, or they hesitate because of the language barrier. We want to try to mainstream them so they can enjoy life in this country," Julianna Chinn, senior service manager at the Asian American Senior Citizens Service Center, said. The Orange County Health Care Agency will use $150,000 from the county's share of the national tobacco settlement to sponsor the one-year study. The coalition includes the Orange County Community Development Council; the Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance; the Asian-American Senior Citizens Service Center; the Orange County Community Korean-American Health Information and Education Center; and the Vietnamese Community of Orange County (Haas, Orange County Register, 7/11).