APAMSA Projects 2009-2010

 AUTUMN QUARTER

Project:
Tabling at Community Resource Fair and Kickoff meeting

Purpose:

• Recruit 1^st years and WWAMI folks

Main tasks:

• Make brochure
• Make sign in sheet
• Show up and table
• Decide kickoff meeting date and time
• Food, room, and funding for kickoff meeting

Time commitment and time period:

• 3-4 hrs, Autumn Quarter

Persons responsible:
2nd year(s) –Robin Chand, Amanda Del Rosario, Jeannie Nguyen, Jena Lee, James Kuo (1 hr of tabling, can make sign in sheet),

Project:
Hepatitis B Teaching Session

Purpose:

• Inform medical students about health disparities and how Hep B has an enormous impact on APA communities (1 in 10 affected!)
• Help recruit med students and volunteers to help with Hep B efforts

Main tasks:

• Call/e-mail potential speakers for APA community (I think we should have two; 1 – a physician who works on Hep B and 2 – Kim Nguyen – the Hep B Task Force Coordinator)
• Order and get food
• Request funding from MSA
• Send out e-mail announcements
• Get SPARX points for participants (coordinate with Ian Maki before sending e-mail announcement), invite premed groups

Time commitment and time period:

• 6-8 hrs, Autumn Quarter

Persons responsible:
2nd year(s) – James Kuo (I know Kim personally so it’ll be easier), ? (I would like someone else to help though)
1st year(s) - ?

Project:
Facilitating premed involvement with Hep B screenings by acting as a liaison between the Hep B Taskforce and premed groups

Purpose:

• Help with screenings for Hep B

Main tasks:

• Coordinate with premed student groups (Hook up with MAPS, CSA, VSA, Ethiopian Student Association?) and the Hepatitis B Taskforce (Kim Nguyen)
• Send out e-mail announcements
• We can pair volunteers with a med mentor as incentive or write some
  letter of thanks for them
• Get SPARX points for participants (coordinate with Ian Maki)

Time commitment and time period:

• 10-12 hrs, Autumn-Winter Quarter; less time afterward

Persons responsible:
2nd year(s) - ? Edward Cheng may be already involved, more help would be better
1st year(s) - ?

Project:
APAMSA National Conference – October 9-11, 2009
Purpose:

• OMCA funds and APAMSA funds for around 2 people to go?
• Will be in Los Angeles this year www.apamsa.org for more info

History:

·         1^st years have usually gone because 2^nd years are so busy with classes

Main tasks:

• Get free trip to LA
• Party
• Report back to rest of APAMSA on what you’ve learned

Time commitment and time period:

• 3 days + hangover + reporting back

Persons attending: ?

Project:
Diversity Advisory Board
Purpose:

• Advise the Office of Multicultural Affairs about diversity issue

History:

·         The advisory board is composed of diversity focused medical student groups (SNMA, LMSA, QMed) and meets once per quarter

Main tasks:

• Solicit feedback from fellow students and APAMSA members
• Attend quarterly meetings of Diversity Advisory Board

Time commitment and time period:

• 3-5 hrs per quarter

Persons responsible:
2nd year(s) – James Kuo (primary), Amanda Del Rosario (backup)
Tips:

•  

WINTER QUARTER

Project:
Panel of Medical Students for Premedical Students

Purpose:

• Panel of medical students aimed at minority undergraduates at UW
• Help inform premeds about the application process

History:

·         APAMSA has usually had many members volunteer as panelists at the event

·         Event usually takes place in fall (November) and in 2009 was in Hogness Auditorium

Main tasks:

• Order and get food (pizza)
• Request funding from MSA
• Send out e-mail announcements
• Recruit panelists to volunteer

Time commitment and time period:

• 5-6 hrs, Fall Quarter, mostly in October and November

Persons responsible:
2nd year(s) - ?
1st year(s) - ?
Tips:

•  

SPRING-SUMMER QUARTER

Project:
Minority Physician's Panel
Purpose:

• Panel for medical students and underrepresented prospective admits during revisit weekend of what it is like to be a minority physician
• Help recruit underrepresented students to UW

History:

·         APAMSA has worked with the other diversity focused medical student groups (SNMA, LMSA, QMed) to organize the event

·         In the past, APAMSA has been responsible for getting food for the event and recruiting a speaker that works in APA communities.  The speaker for 2009 was Dr. Kimo Hirayama, who works at International Community Health Services (ICHS).  (Kimo at ichs.com)

·         Event usually takes place in April

Main tasks:

• Coordinate tasks with other diversity focused student groups
• Order and get food
• Request funding from MSA
• Send out e-mail announcements
• Call/e-mail potential speakers for APA community (Dr. Hirayama is good)

Time commitment and time period:

• 3-6 hrs, Spring Quarter, mostly in March and April

Persons responsible:
2nd year(s) - ?
1st year(s) - ?
Tips:

•  

Project:
Blood Pressure Screenings with International Community Health Services

Purpose:

• Let first years practice BP screenings at health fairs
• Let first years learn more about community health and community health centers

History:

·         APAMSA has worked with the other diversity focused medical student groups (SNMA, LMSA, QMed) to organize the event

·         In the past, APAMSA has been responsible for getting food for the event and recruiting a speaker that works in APA communities.  The speaker for 2009 was Dr. Kimo Hirayama, who works at International Community Health Services (ICHS).  (Kimo at ichs.com)

·         Event usually takes place in April

Main tasks:

• Send e-mail announcements
• Keep tracking spreadsheet on Google Docs
• Coordinate logistics with ICHS staff – Abbie and Michelle

Time commitment and time period:

• 6-7 hrs, Spring quarter and Summer after 1^st year, ideally someone with e-mail access for the summer

Persons responsible:
1st year(s) - ?
Tips:

• Report available on APAMSA website

Project:
Pass on knowledge, write up everything

Purpose:

• So it’s easy to do stuff again

Main tasks:

• Post everything to blog so it’s online forever

Time commitment and time period:

• As long as one wants it to be

Persons responsible:
Everyone

2009 kickoff meeting notes

UWSOM APAMSA Kickoff Meeting Notes

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

T530, 5:30-7PM

• Introductions
• Background of APAMSA and Current Officers

APAMSA is a national organization, current officers this year are Amanda, Jena, Jeannie, Robin, and James.  The group is very flexible and open to ideas for events and projects.

• The APA community in Seattle – ICHS and beyond – James

 The main APA serving health agencies in Seattle are International Community Health Services, a community health center, and Asian Counseling and Referral Service, an agency that provides mental health, substance abuse, and citizenship services.

• Brief overview of APA health disparities – Jeannie and Jena

Hepatitis B (and therefore liver cancer), cervical cancer in Vietnamese women, smoking, diabetes

• APAMSA National Conference – Oct 9-11, 2009 – Amanda and Robin

National conference is coming up, see note from Amanda in previous post.

• Website – http://uwapamsa.blogspot.com - James
• Brief Overview of Events and Activities
• Autumn Quarter/Yearlong
• Hepatitis B Teaching Session – Robin and James

Will organize along with Hep B taskforce.  This will be a teaching session for medical students.  Speakers will include a physician that works with patients with Hep B and the Hep B taskforce coordinator.  Should be in November sometime.

• Hepatitis B Focus Group - James

Will take place mid-October - Oct 12 possibly.  ICHS and the Hep B Taskforce have received a grant from a national organization to start a public health campaign revolving around vaccinating for Hep B.  They are conducting focus groups with various groups around the city and would like one involving health professions students.  Nursing and pharmacy students will be at the focus group as well ideally.

• Diversity Advisory Board – Amanda and James

Advise OMCA regarding diversity issues.  James is the primary rep, Amanda is the backup.

• Hepatitis B Screenings Assistance – Jena, Robin, and James

APAMSA has helped provide translation at some screenings provided by the Hep B Taskforce in the past.  This year, we are looking to expand language capacity by working with premedical undergraduate groups that have more time.  We may act as a liaison those groups and the Taskforce and provide mentoring as incentive for undergraduates to volunteer their time.  We are unable to draw blood at these events because of liability issues.

How a screening typically is setup:

-A community member from a church or community center learns about Hep B and its prevalence in APA communities

-They get connected with the Hep B Taskforce

-Together they set up a screening for that community

APAMSA members are encouraged to leverage their contacts in churches and community centers to find communities that may benefit from this.  Grace mentioned a church in the area that may be a potential site to provide screenings.

• Winter Quarter
• Panel for premeds – Jeannie and Amanda

In the past, we have hosted a panel of medical students targeted towards premeds to provide advice and encouragement.

• Assist with bone marrow drive - Robin

Last year, we helped with a Bone Marrow Drive organized by SNMA that was part of a national push by medical students around the nation because of a medical student that needed a bone marrow transplant.

• Spring Quarter
• Minority Physician’s Panel – Robin

APAMSA helps host a Minority Physician's Panel during 2nd look weekend for both prospective students and current students.  We recruit panelists, physicians working with underserved communities, who speak to students about their experiences.  It has been very popular in the past and APAMSA has always had a large role in setting up the event.


AFERM (Alliance for Equal Representation in Medicine) is a group that APAMSA works closely with for events such as this.  the goal of AFERM is to increase diversity in the UWSOM.  Most APAMSA members are also AFERM members.  Contact Grace for more info about AFERM.

• Blood pressure screenings with ICHS - James

Coming up in Spring and the Summer.  See report on this blog for more info.  Need a 1st year to take over coordinating this.

• Other ideas
• ICHS - tour, preceptorships, shadowing

James used to work at ICHS and knows people there well.  If there is interest, APAMSA can set up a tour of ICHS.  Additionally, a family medicine preceptorship is available at ICHS and more informal shadowing sessions can be set up as well.

• Social events – bubble tea, dimsum, etc

Many expressed interest in more APAMSA social events such as group dimsum or bubble tea.

• Group volunteer events - Keiro Nursing Home
  

Many also expressed interest in more group volunteering events at places such as the Keiro Nursing Home, a nursing home that has mostly APA elders.  Jena has volunteered there in the past and enjoyed her experience there.

Next steps

• Outline details of additional projects and events
  
• Divide up tasks for the various projects between interested first and second years
  

Fwd: [Apamsauw] Conference on Sat, Oct 31st

From Amanda-

Hi all,

I wanted to make some clarifications about the upcoming APAMSA conference dates.  There are two different ones coming up, one of which is paid for, so please read on!

1) Oct 9-11 - National Conference at UCLA
http://apamsa.org/2009conference/
- Students are responsible for their own travel costs.

2) Sat, Oct 31st - Annual Hep B Conference in Boston
http://www.athousandwordsmedia.com/hepbwebsite
- Students will receive a travel stipend to cover costs
- We'll get $400 total so this will be divided among however many people we send. 

Sorry for the mixup at the meeting - for the 1st years who have the anatomy final on Oct 12th, please re-check your schedules to see if you can attend the Oct 31st conference!  Let me know by Mon, Sept 28th if you're interested.   

Thanks and have a good weekend,
Amanda
 
-------------------------------------
Amanda del Rosario, MS2
University of Washington
School of Medicine

-------------------------------------


_______________________________________________
APAMSAUW mailing list

2009 Kickoff Meeting Agenda

UWSOM APAMSA Kickoff Agenda

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

T530, 5:30-7PM

• Introductions
• Background of APAMSA and Current Officers
• The APA community in Seattle – ICHS and beyond – James
• Brief overview of APA health disparities – Jeannie and Jena
• APAMSA National Conference – Oct 9-11, 2009 – Amanda and Robin
• Website – http://uwapamsa.blogspot.com - James
• Brief Overview of Events and Activities
• Autumn Quarter/Yearlong
• Hepatitis B Teaching Session – Robin and James
• Hepatitis B Focus Group - James
• Diversity Advisory Board – Amanda and James
• Hepatitis B Screenings Assistance – Jena, Robin, and James
• Winter Quarter
• Panel for premeds – Jeannie and Amanda
• Assist with bone marrow drive - Robin
• Spring Quarter
• Minority Physician’s Panel – Robin
• Blood pressure screenings with ICHS - James
• Other ideas
• Tour of ICHS
• Social events – bubble tea, dimsum, etc

Summer BP screenings with ICHS 2009

Pic above is MD/PhD student Edward Cheng taking the blood pressure of someone at a health fair


James Kuo
August 2009

Summer Blood Pressure Screenings with ICHS Writeup
Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association - UW Chapter

Introduction and Purpose

International Community Health Services (ICHS - www.ichs.com) is a community health center in located in Seattle's International District that focuses on providing care for underserved immigrants and refugees in the Asian Pacific American (APA) community. We created this program to help meet some needs for both ICHS and medical students:

-Get more medical students involved with an APA focused community health center.
-Allow medical students to learn more about community health in Seattle
-Allow medical students to work on a basic clinical skill (taking blood pressures in a loud street fair)
-Provide basic screening and health education for underserved populations

First year medical students learn how to take BPs in the spring and most will have bought equipment to do so by then.

Methods and Materials

Coordinating with ICHS
The Community Advocacy Coordinator, Abbie Zahler, and the Volunteer Coordinator, Michelle Mallari, were the key contacts. They provided the schedule of events where students could help out and walked each volunteer through the required paperwork.

Getting the word out
The APAMSA, AFERM, MD1, and MD2 mailing lists were e-mailed with information about the program (see appendix for e-mail)

Setting up a spreadsheet
A Google spreadsheet was set up to keep track of volunteers and events. (http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=rcFHoVmVlVfF5wp1RZJIy-Q)

Logistics
Students brought their own BP equipment and provided their own transportation.



Results
There was at least one volunteer for most of the events. I did it once and feel like I am better and more comfortable at taking blood pressures now that I have done it on around 20 people at the street fair that I volunteered at.

Conclusion / Recommendations for Next Time
Ideas for the future-

• Informal follow up with those that participated so can improve next time
  
• Talk to SPARX and get them to give SPARX points for volunteers
  
• Recommending to participants to read up on hypertension beforehand
  

Appendix
Contacts
Abbie Zahler, Community Advocacy Coordinator - abbiez; domain for e-mail is ichs.com
Michelle Mallari, Volunteer Coordinator - michellem; same domain

E-mail sent out
Hi,

APAMSA has collaborated with International Community Health Services (ICHS), the main community health center in the Seattle area that focuses on underserved API populations, to create a project where medical students accompany ICHS outreach workers to health fairs and community fairs to help with blood pressure screenings. ICHS also has snazzy multilingual materials that talk about hypertension (and other chronic diseases) and how to prevent and treat it so you can hand these out to the person after you screen them as well if they have high blood pressure.

The following link can take you to a list of events and times. It will be updated regularly so you can see what events and times are still available.

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=rcFHoVmVlVfF5wp1RZJIy-Q

Reasons to participate:

-Work on a basic clinical skill. You'll get much better taking BPs
practicing in a loud health fair.
-Provide basic screening and health education for underserved populations.
-Learn more about community health in Seattle.

If you are interested in volunteering, please e-mail me and let me know:

-Name of event (of course)
-Your cell phone number
-Time of availability
-Any language skills you possess

You will also have to fill out a short volunteer app at http://www.ichs.com/pdfs/VolunteerApplication.pdf and stop by their office in the International District for some more paperwork. You would also bring your own BP cuff and stethoscope to the health fair.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Have a great day!

James