APICHA Programs Update

May/June 2010 Edition
Editor-In-Chief: Jonathan Chang
Editorial Committee: Jennifer Chung, Diana Lieu, Malvin Vien

Upcoming Events

*5/4 – LGBT Primary Care Clinic Open House (6-8pm) – APICHA is expanding its primary care services to serve the A&PI LGBTQ community. If you’d like to learn more about our new services, please come to our clinic open house on May 4, 2010.

**5/1 – Women & Youth Program Workshop Series (11am-3pm)

***5/5 – Project Connect Workshop, “Everybody Hurts: Mental Health of LGBTQ Asian Americans” (Speaker- Kevin Nadal; 7pm)

5/14 – APICHA’s AIDS Walk Kick-off (6-9pm)

5/16 – AIDS Walk New York (Central Park)

***5/24 – Project Connect Workshop, “LGBTQ A&PI Families” (Speaker- Deanna Cheng; 7pm)

5/31 – Agency Closed (Memorial Day)

6/6 – Queens Pride Multicultural Festival (11am-6pm; 37th Road between 73rd and 77th Streets; HIV testing available)

6/12 – Brooklyn Pride Festival (11am-6pm; Prospect Park West between 9th and 15th Streets; HIV testing available)

6/27 – New York City Pride March – Manhattan

Unless otherwise noted, all events take place at APICHA.

*Please email mmihai@apicha.org to RSVP.

**Please email ypp@apicha.org for more details.

***Please email dlieu@apicha.org to RSVP.

Program Highlights

A Leap Forward: APICHA’s LGBT Primary Care Clinic

The first of its kind in the country, APICHA began a clinic focused on the care of Asian & Pacific Islander LGBTQs.

The purpose of this clinic is to provide primary care, education, vaccination, and STD testing and treatment for LGBTQs. We are able to provide routine lab-work, anal and cervical pap smears, and LGBTQ-affirming medical care. Target clients also include those who are partnered with HIV-infected individuals.

APICHA is a safe environment for all individuals regardless of sex, gender, sexual orientation, or race. We will care for clients with or without insurance (a sliding scale fee will apply to those without insurance).

To make an appointment or learn more about our clinic, please call 212-334-6029.

What Do My Parents Think About Me?

By Jarron Magallanes, LGBT Program Manager

Through our agency’s LGBT Program, we are able to capture the voices of Asian & Pacific Islander LGBT youth participants. Our youth face the challenging task of managing their LGBT identities as well as being their parents’ “ideal child.” The following three young people discuss their parents’ views on LGBT individuals:

“My parents think that [my sexuality] is abnormal and that it is a form of social handicap due to society’s prejudice against them. While they would never mistreat LGBTQ people, they know that it’s not the norm, and it’s not something that they would ever want their children to be for reasons behind the “American Dream” that brought them to this country.” -21 year old Korean female, lesbian-identified, youth mentoring participant

“I’m not out to my parents and my relatives. I’m not ready to come out to my parents yet because I’m still dependent on them; perhaps [I will come out to them] in the future. I think my father probably knows that I’m gay and is fine with it. I think my mother knows, but she’s in denial. She always asks if I have met any good girls.” -22 year old Chinese male, gay-identified, youth participant

“My parents have offered a variety of the usual perspectives on LGBT people, such as that it is not natural, that there is a choice in the matter, and that you can fix yourself. There’s definite awkwardness when my mom and I are both watching TV, and a gay character is displayed on screen. She asks lots of questions which were very offensive and hurtful at first, but recently, her questions have become earnest as though she honestly wants to understand LGBT people better. I think that time heals a lot of these wounds, and I think things will improve.” -22 year old South Asian male, gay-identified, youth participant

Our youth programs provide a “safe space” for A&PI LGBTQ youth. We look to expand our reach to educate and support parents, family members and friends of A&PI LGBTQ youth and young adults. In doing so, we hope to come one step closer towards strengthening family support and community for our youth and their loved ones.

Introducing: Care Coordination for Clients

Care Coordination is a program offered to HIV+/AIDS clients to ensure that they maintain a stable health status and are linked to care via navigation, coordination of medical and social services, and provision of support and coaching. These services encourage self-sufficiency, so clients are able to manage their medical and social needs independently.

When clients join our Care Coordination program, we will assign a bilingual care coordinator and bilingual patient navigator to work with them on an ongoing basis to provide assistance with their medical needs. These assigned staff members will also provide individual support to ensure that clients understand their medical treatment and to obtain other various service needs.

We offer support services including one-on-one health promotion educational sessions, directly observed therapy (DOT), other social and entitlement assistance (e.g., housing, insurance), and referrals and escorting clients to specialists off-site (e.g. dental office).

To participate in this program, individuals must enroll or already be receiving services from one of the following medical facilities in New York City: APICHA (400 Broadway), Astor Medical (67 Irving Place, 5th floor), or Pride Medical (3867 Broadway). We assist individuals in obtaining care from these medical facilities if they are either not in medical care or if they fall out of care.

For more information on Care Coordination or to enroll in this new program, please call 646-744-2593. Besides English, we speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Japanese, Thai, and Vietnamese.

Office Hours: Monday-Friday, 9:30am-5:30pm
Clinic Hours: M/T/F:  9:30am-5:30pm, W/Th: 9:30am-7pm
HIV Testing Hours: M/T/Th/F: 10:30am-5:30pm, W: 1:30pm-7:30pm
To make an appointment for testing, please call Infoline: 866-APICHA9 (866-274-2429)
To make an appointment for medical care, call: 212-334-6029

To support APICHA and our initiatives, please visit: www.apicha.org/contribute
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