GROWING COMMUNITY. The Asian Health & Service Center, a health-oriented community center serving clients in a culturally and linguistically appropriate format, recently moved to a larger facility next door to their previous location on Powell Boulevard in southeast Portland. Pictured are students watching their teacher during a calligraphy class, held weekly at the center. (AR Photo/Ian Blazina)

From The Asian Reporter, V18, #25 (June 24, 2008), page 11.

By Ian Blazina

The Asian Health & Service Center (AHSC), a health-oriented community center serving clients in a culturally and linguistically appropriate format, recently moved to a larger facility next door to their previous location on Powell Boulevard. The new site makes room for the center’s expanding scope and clientele, and provides easier access for aging clients and a more communal environment for employees.

The center began in 1983 at a Chinese Presbyterian church in the Woodstock area of southeast Portland. In 1999 it moved to a location near the corner of 35th Place and Powell Boulevard when it became clear that the organization had outgrown the church facilities. In 2000 the center expanded to the second floor of the building, and in 2001 it needed the basement as well. Having the center spread over three levels was a burden for clients, who had trouble using the stairs, and left employees scattered throughout the building.

The new building consolidates classrooms, large community rooms, and clinic areas on the 5,600-square-foot ground floor, with offices and additional classrooms on the equally spacious second floor. The large, open spaces accommodate more convenient and inviting interactions between clients and clinicians as well as among patrons. The expanded space will also allow for the center’s planned expansion of services, including more programs aimed at the Vietnamese community.

AHSC sees itself as a community center open to everyone, where people can socialize and participate in community activities as well as receive information and services related to mental and physical health. Because it is a community center, clients can avoid the stigma often associated with the need for healthcare services, especially behavioral health.

The center focuses on prevention as opposed to intervention, and includes relationship building between clients and clinicians, who can build trust and assure an understanding of the confidentiality associated with utilizing health services. The new facility has an integrated wing reserved for mental-health counselling and social services where clients can receive help in privacy without attracting unnecessary attention.

One benefit of the center’s focus on community has been in establishing a relationship with a nearby nursing home. Patients from the home come to the center, where more able clients can assist them in participating in activities and accessing services. This arrangement benefits the nursing home patients, whose quality of life benefits from opportunities to socialize outside of their immediate environment, as well as the AHSC’s clients, who feel useful, engaged, and empowered by the chance to assist others.

This type of community involvement is a hallmark of AHSC’s holistic and preventative approach to health and wellbeing. Far from the prevalent model of health services that focuses narrowly on diagnosis and treatment, AHSC broadly considers the many factors that contribute to a healthy and involved life.

Through funding from state and county governments, individual donors, and foundations such as the Northwest Health Foundation, United Way, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the Avon Foundation Breast Care Fund, and others, AHSC offers a wide range of services aimed at creating healthy social environments, behaviors, and relationships. In addition to its funding partners, AHSC works closely with community organizations such as the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, Chinese American Citizens Alliance, Portland Classical Chinese Garden, Oregon Korea Foundation, Korean Senior Association, and local faith groups.

The Northwest Health Foundation’s Kaiser Permanente Community Fund supports "Tea Link: A Community Engagement Program," a coalition of AHSC community groups including a Cantonese opera club, a dance club, the Fu-Yo ("blissful friends") Club, a women’s health group, and others. The groups are linked by their focus on social determinants of health, encouraging preventative measures including community involvement, socialization, art, and informal health education. The overarching goal of the collective of groups is to overcome language and culture barriers to engagement and thereby promote community wellbeing.

The Asian Health & Service Center’s new Portland office is located at 3430 S.E. Powell Boulevard in Portland. The center also maintains a westside office at 12500 S.W. Allen Boulevard in Beaverton.

For more information, call (503) 872-8822 (Portland) or (503) 641-4113 (Beaverton), e-mail <info@ahscpdx.org>, or visit <www.ahscpdx.org>.