00:00:05.630 - 00:00:19.290

Hi, good morning, Rogene, thank you for accepting our request for a second interview. My name is Anne Chao. I'm the manager of the Houston Asian American Archive. Today is January 19, 2022.

00:00:19.720 - 00:00:33.540

And this is a follow-up interview from your initial interview in 2012, so exactly 10 years ago. Since then, you've done so much and we are very interested in practically everything you- and we're interested in

00:00:33.540 - 00:00:49.400

everything you do, but in particular, your work with the Asian American Health Alliance, in particular with HOPE clinic, and then your experience with the Asian American Family Services. And also, when-we also would like to know more about the

00:00:49.400 - 00:01:05.390

awards you received- you have received so many awards from, I think 1990, all the way to 2020. The latest award is the Random Acts of Kindness Humanitarian Award. And in 2017, you received a Robert Wood Johnson

00:01:06.210 - 00:01:19.900

Foundation, Asian-Pacific Islander Caucus Health Equity Award, if you can tell us a little bit more about that. And also, in your professional life that you do so much for the community, we forget you actually have a real professional life.

00:01:21.250 - 00:01:36.080

And we want you to talk a little bit about that as well. So thank you so much again, would you like to start with the Asian American Family Services and your experience with trying to provide mental health

00:01:36.540 - 00:01:46.570

services for the community? Thank you Anne, it's-it's a joy to be back with you. I can't believe 10 years has passed already. We haven't changed at all have we?

00:01:48.490 - 00:02:06.090

This is an interesting story in my life because it was about mid-1990s, and I had taken a break from my career-my-my job, my full-time job. As a mother and a woman, you can, I think, relate

00:02:07.860 - 00:02:22.710

to this. So right after college, I started working, we had children somewhat late in our married life, but had two children. I went back to work. I was very fortunate that I worked for United Way at the time with both of them

00:02:22.710 - 00:02:34.520

actually and I was able to take three months off, which was more than-I mean was very-very good for me, and to-to be with them. And then I went back to work.

00:02:35.020 - 00:02:50.650

And I continued to work full-time until they were in grade school. And I found that at that age, they were too old to go to daycare, and too young to be at home by themselves. So it was a kind of a good time and excuse to actually take a break from working

00:02:51.930 - 00:03:03.690

with somebody, so I did. I stopped working and stayed at home more. And what that allowed me to do is actually look at the landscape to see what was

00:03:03.690 - 00:03:18.860

going on. I never stopped being active in the community, but I-you know, didn't have a 8 to 5, whatever job-regular job you have to report to. That is when Houston was experiencing a major growth as you probably know, in our

00:03:18.860 - 00:03:34.320

demographic numbers with the AAPI. I'm gonna shorten it. Asian American Pacific Islander, AAPI community. And we were seeing, you know, the Chinese community growing

00:03:34.630 - 00:03:46.840

because the quotas had increased. The Vietnamese, of course, by that time, two or three waves of Vietnamese refugees had-had come to Houston and made their home here.

00:03:47.450 - 00:04:03.500

And so in the mid-90s, we started to see our AAPI community grow larger, and also being more diverse. Before, when I would see an Asian face, it was usually Chinese. And at that time when I was

00:04:03.520 - 00:04:17.600

growing up, it was usually Chinese from the southern part of China that came here. Guangdong or Canton area from the villages, you know, and you've done all a great history about some of our families here. So we all knew

00:04:17.650 - 00:04:25.340

each other. We didn't live close to each other. We didn't have a major Chinatown. We had a business Chinatown, but not residential.

00:04:25.940 - 00:04:42.790

But we all went to different schools and- so we had certain organizations that kind of pulled us together. So a couple of colleagues and I got together and at that point we decided to start the Asian American Health Coalition.

00:04:43.160 - 00:04:59.630

So it's AAHC because we saw a need for health care. At the same time, some other colleagues of mine and I were into mental health, and we decided we needed to put some time into starting an Asian American

00:05:00.150 - 00:05:16.120

Mental Health Organization, the Asian American Family Counseling Service is what we called it. And so it's-it's just kind of coincidental that they both started at the same time, 1996. And again, because I was not, you know,

00:05:16.340 - 00:05:29.630

with a full time job, I was able to put some time into it. It took several years for both of these organizations, and we can talk about the Health Coalition later. But the family counseling service, it took us a little time to get that

00:05:29.630 - 00:05:41.820

going. I had the benefit of three friends who were in the field, professionally. Dr. Monit Cheung, who you probably know, she's still at the University of Houston.

00:05:42.480 - 00:05:52.820

Her husband and colleague, Dr. Patrick Leong, also at the University of Houston. And they-when they both came from the Denver area, I believe,

00:05:54.000 - 00:06:08.740

you know, they just quickly made a home here, and-and they have been at the University of Houston Graduate School of Social Work since that time, and have really built a lot there. The third is a woman who was in private practice and

00:06:08.780 - 00:06:22.860

unfortunately, she's passed away now . But the benefit and knowledge and all of their uh-of their wealth of-of contacts, and just knowing what we needed to do, we slowly built the Asian American Family

00:06:23.180 - 00:06:37.050

Counseling Service at first. You know, as all small emerging groups, we, you know, had to get some funds. And we were lucky that Houston Endowment knew some of us and entrusted us with some funding, and that got us

00:06:37.050 - 00:06:54.100

started. So we started with a resource database, we hired a part-time person to do a little bit referral. And that's how we kind of, you know, started growing. After about five or six years, or maybe less than

00:06:54.210 - 00:07:08.360

that, my tongue-tongue now escapes me, but a good friend of mine who had left Houston, and decided to come back when she came back, this is Kim Szeto, she took over as the executive director full time.

00:07:08.950 - 00:07:28.400

And she was able to really grow the organization a lot and brought in professionals, mental health professionals, to serve the community, and it thrived for a good 12-15 years. Unfortunately, her health was not good so she had to

00:07:28.400 - 00:07:40.250

retire. And-and it's so hard for everybody, anybody, to get mental health funding. And at that time, which I think would have been in

00:07:42.070 - 00:07:49.570

the-it's been at least 10-15, 10 years since she's retired. It was really hard. It may be a little bit easier now, I don't know.

00:07:50.530 - 00:08:04.720

Funding in general is hard, but-but for mental health, it was difficult. And in the Asian American community, as you know, we have the double challenge of language and culture, and mental

00:08:05.120 - 00:08:20.120

health in terms of Asian American population is even more, I think, challenging than physical health even. Physical health is certainly understood, you go to a doctor to fix whatever ails you. But mental health is elusive.

00:08:20.830 - 00:08:36.130

I mean, in the Asian-Eastern philosophy, Asian community, we kind of have holistic medicine. I mean, we think of mental-physical; we don't segregate it. And we certainly don't go to a stranger, and tell them all of the

00:08:36.130 - 00:08:49.150

problems we're having, you know, even if they could speak our language, which very few of them could, at that time. So it was, it was a hard hill to climb, and we really appreciate all the

00:08:49.150 - 00:08:59.160

work that Kim and her staff did. And it really was a good opportunity, but it just didn't sustain. So unfortunately,

00:08:59.220 - 00:09:14.910

in-in the I-I'd say the early1 2000s- let's see what are we in 22?- so probably about 20102, it closed. So this is where Asian American Health Coalition HOPE Clinic steps in.

00:09:16.120 - 00:09:32.780

HOPE Clinic, as you know, is a federally qualified health center. As an FQHC, we are required to either refer to or provide mental health, we call it behavioral health services. And we have begun to do that and, of

00:09:33.080 - 00:09:49.310

course, physically, the two organizations for a while were very close in proximity to one another. So we were hoping to do more referral to the Asian American Family Services as our referral source.

00:09:50.500 - 00:10:04.860

Unfortunately, when it closed, we were really without any very many referrals, you know, places to refer to. So that really encouraged us and forced us to-to build our capacity more.

00:10:05.510 - 00:10:21.360

And finally, today we have a pretty good behavioral health department. But the challenges with both AAHF- Asian American Family Services and the HOPE Clinic is finding the staff because

00:10:23.020 - 00:10:34.780

you've got to find staff that are bilingual, bicultural, and have that expertise. And we could find some, but it's been very hard.

00:10:35.160 - 00:10:52.700

That's the challenge. So AAFS in the time that Kim was the executive director, and in its heyday, I guess you'd say, it changed its name to the Asian American Family Services, and took on

00:10:52.700 - 00:11:11.610

more of a broader family service type organization. They didn't just do counseling. In addition to counseling, they did-they started getting into job training, you know, and some other family referrals

00:11:14.340 - 00:11:27.970

and case management, and they worked with youth a lot. They actually went into the schools and met with- they would have teams of youth that would meet in a support group setting. So they branched out.

00:11:28.550 - 00:11:44.700

And it was really good, and they did a lot of education and outreach. But again, the funding was not there to sustain it. Great, thank you for this very good, detailed rundown. I just have a few follow up questions.

00:11:45.780 - 00:11:59.050

What led you to start an Asian American Health Coalition? What would be some of the reasons you wanted to start that? So it actually was triggered by a mental health.

00:12:00.040 - 00:12:13.650

And now that you bring it all back in full circle, there was a SouthEast Regional mental health summit for Asian Americans in Houston. And again, my colleague, Dr.

00:12:13.650 - 00:12:30.260

Beverly Gor, Lynne Nguyen, who at that time was working with United Way. Beverly is a dietitian by profession, and she was working full time, I think, with the city of Houston. But anyway, the two of them and myself- they actually

00:12:30.760 - 00:12:43.990

attended the summit. And one of the recommendations out of that summit was that we needed a healthcare 1 Correction of date to the mid-2000s. 2 Correction to 2014.

00:12:44.040 - 00:12:55.580

resource for Asian Americans. We had nothing at that time. And it had to be culturally and linguistically competent because that was one of the big problems is the fact that, you know, there was just no resource like that

00:12:55.810 - 00:13:11.330

in Houston. But yet, our population was growing. I also had the benefit of going to some other cities like Denver, Boston, and seeing their Asian community with resources that we were trying to emulate here.

00:13:11.970 - 00:13:21.640

And yet they had fewer Asian Americans. I mean, our numbers were bigger than theirs. So we said, you know, we got to get on this train and-and that's what prompted it.

00:13:21.710 - 00:13:40.160

First of all, was the summit that-that actually identified the need. And some people that attended that summit, started to convene, and we started holding meetings to talk about what do we need to do. And so that that was the main thing is triggering

00:13:40.240 - 00:13:58.360

it, but also the people that were working here that saw the need. And so Anne, I think the big story was once we all said, "Okay, we have this need, and we need to start the services," we started to go out and some of us had some experience and

00:13:58.360 - 00:14:08.040

knowledge of, you know, starting up services and programs. We had, again, Lynne with United Way, which was big ally at the time. And then I've had

00:14:08.040 - 00:14:19.760

experience writing grants and trying to get funding, and Beverly as well. But nobody believed us. Nobody thought that the Asian American community needed services.

00:14:21.120 - 00:14:37.240

And that because of the, partly, the model minority myth. "You guys, you know, have what you need. You're smart, you're talented, you're resourceful you- and we don't see you out there. We don't see you asking for services in the public sector."

00:14:37.990 - 00:14:53.040

Well, the fact is, is there were people asking for services and there were nightmare stories. One that I always remember is the woman who went to the Harris County Hospital District at the time that had the, you know, Gold

00:14:53.060 - 00:15:10.990

Card, the program for low-income folks, and she sat all day waiting to be called and to find out that they had called her name, but because people were not fluent, you know, in their language, or knowledgeable at that time about these

00:15:10.990 - 00:15:24.440

foreign names, and they mispronounced it, probably terribly. And then of course, her-her knowledge of English was not good, so she didn't hear it. And she didn't know to get up and ask, you know, that takes a little

00:15:24.440 - 00:15:31.640

courage as well. So all in all, she sat there all day waiting to be called. Nobody checked up on her.

00:15:32.090 - 00:15:45.380

So there are-there were few people that did go out for services, but their experience was so horrible, they never did it again. And so it was like, catch-22. We weren't out there asking for services, so people didn't think we needed services.

00:15:46.190 - 00:15:58.380

So Anne, you know, Steven Klineberg, our dear Dr. Klineberg. About 1998, I think it was, or 2001, maybe it was even as late as that.

00:15:59.410 - 00:16:15.750

The community leaders talked him into doing an Asian survey, much like what he does for this county in the city of Houston, and had done by that time, many years. We had to raise our own money.

00:16:16.540 - 00:16:30.560

I'm sure you helped us. And we did the first Asian study, I want to say it was 1998 at the time. We've only done three since then. We wanted him to help us do a fourth before he retires, so we'll see.

00:16:31.170 - 00:16:49.500

But anyway, he did that first study, and as we found out from the data- and that was like the first study of the Asian American community in Houston. When we wrote grants or wrote, you know, case studies and things,

00:16:49.830 - 00:17:01.190

we'd have to take data from other cities-San Francisco, New York, Boston, other cities that have had Asian communities and kept data. And we would have to,

00:17:01.270 - 00:17:14.530

you know, extrapolate to us and say, "Well, this is in San Francisco, but it shows you know, that in our population it's probably not much different." Well, there's nothing-there's nothing better than, you know, homegrown data.

00:17:15.220 - 00:17:28.690

He- even though his survey was more generic, it did come out with data that we could use. One major thing was three out of every four adult Asian American in Houston, or Harris

00:17:28.810 - 00:17:48.470

County at the time, was foreign born and first generation. And so that's a high number, 75%, which really documented the need for language and culture, you know, linguistic and cultural competency.

00:17:50.440 - 00:18:05.770

And so we were able to use some of his data to start to paint a picture of Houston. And with that, and also our advocacy that we did, the Asian American Health Coalition, as a group, we finally got

00:18:05.770 - 00:18:21.270

a grant. And slowly but surely, we started to, you know, bring on more people that could work in the-in the area. And then in 2002, so it took six to seven years for us to put our toe into the healthcare business.

00:18:22.180 - 00:18:37.620

We were more in education, outreach, advocacy, research, you know, community outreach type of organization at first because all of us were volunteers. And then when we hired our first staff person, it was- it was Karen Tso, who we

00:18:37.620 - 00:18:51.440

call one of our godmothers as well. She was able to organize a 4 hour a month clinic that we had at the Chinese Community Center, because they gave us, they donated space.

00:18:53.180 - 00:19:06.470

The last Tuesday of the month. And we had volunteer doctors and other volunteers from the Chinese Baptist Church that would come and they'd set up kind of a little, you

00:19:06.470 - 00:19:20.690

know, post- what do you call- pop-up clinic, 4 hours a month, the last Tuesday of the month. They charge $5 per visit, just-just because we-we knew that people would value more,

00:19:20.690 - 00:19:35.250

something that was, you know, a little bit of funding on their part, but you know, not to inhibit them from getting services. And of course, we did a lot of referral, but the docs that could see them and advise them, you know, did that.

00:19:35.410 - 00:19:46.220

That's how we operated for a couple of years. In 2005, two or three years later, Katrina hit. And you've probably heard this story.

00:19:46.540 - 00:19:59.530

We were invited by the Boat People SOS who had a office at the Hong Kong City Mall. And that's where we set up shop to help the thousands of Vietnamese refugees, or evacuees

00:20:00.350 - 00:20:14.250

I should say, that came from the Louisiana Gulf Coast. The Vietnamese radio, would tell them to come. They would have shelter because it was an enclosed mall, and they were allowed to stay there.

00:20:14.810 - 00:20:29.620

And then there were food services there, so you know, they could get food. But thousands of people came over a course of several weeks, and HOPE Clinic provided the medical care and-and visits that they needed.

00:20:30.060 - 00:20:46.410

So eventually we moved back to our-our offices, which were still at the Chinese Community Center. We had outgrown the original, you know, I call it one-room schoolhouse type-type of thing, and we actually had offices, a couple of exam rooms that we paid

00:20:46.450 - 00:21:02.210

for. And we started to ramp up our hours, we were opening 20 hours a week, and eventually 30 hours a week, we had a part time Executive Director we hired. And then like I said, it took a few years, but we finally ramped up.

00:21:02.930 - 00:21:18.770

In about 2007- I want to-I don't have exact, and so don't- I can find out, I need to do a little bit more digging. But my recollection is in about 2007, we hired our now current CEO, Dr.

00:21:18.880 - 00:21:32.280

Andrea Caracostis. And Dr. Caracosits had for us, expertise and experience in working in FQHC business. It wasn't a clinic that she-she worked in immigrant

00:21:32.340 - 00:21:49.600

or migrant farmworkers network, which was an FQHC. So she knew a lot about how they operate, what they were expecting. But her experience working in a, you know, stone, and what do you call it, brick and mortar type of

00:21:49.600 - 00:22:04.390

clinic was not there. But she was very good, very smart. The other thing we did, and , Beverly, Lynne and I kind of- and Karen kind of worked it together.

00:22:04.760 - 00:22:21.870

We-we were- when we were hiring for an executive director, we always felt like, you know, it's an Asian American outreach. We need an Asian American, you know, staff. But we found out that it was more important that the staff

00:22:22.680 - 00:22:41.690

have a heart that was akin to community health. And that was more important we found, then what you look like, or what your background was. Not that you can't have that. You need to have, certainly, a heart for different people, and who they

00:22:41.690 - 00:22:54.320

are and what they represent and how to work with them. But you didn't have to be of their background. And we learned a lot in the process because we stayed up many, many hours when we were trying to hire for this position.

00:22:55.030 - 00:23:09.580

We went through two or three people over time and that's how we learn these lessons. And Dr. Caracostis, to her credit, you know, has really proven that. Under her leadership, we were able to then in about

00:23:09.660 - 00:23:23.100

2008 I want to say become an FQHC look-alike. So FQHC is not an easy thing to be and-and if you know, Houston, we probably have about a dozen.

00:23:24.420 - 00:23:35.680

And for a city our size, that is, that is just crazy. You go to somewhere like Chicago, Boston, other cities like that, they have- I think

00:23:35.680 - 00:23:51.100

Chicago had in the hundreds because they started earlier. And I think Houston and Texas has this attitude that you know, as long as we can do it ourselves, we will. We don't want any outside intervention or funding if we don't

00:23:51.100 - 00:24:06.990

need it. So for a long time, we really fought that. Under - under Governor Bush, George Bush when he was in office, he really pushed it. He really started that whole effort to get more FQHCs into our

00:24:06.990 - 00:24:23.100

state. And he started an incubation program under the state that we were able to tap into. And actually we eventually hired the woman that ran that as one of- as our executive director early on, and she

00:24:23.100 - 00:24:40.710

helped us really get ready to be an FQHC when the co-founders Beverly, Lynne, myself, you know when we got together early on to design this or envision it. We wanted to be an FQHC from day one.

00:24:41.370 - 00:24:57.160

And that helped a lot because if you don't structure yourself early on, and you kind of convert to it, it's a little harder, because the guidelines and the requirements are so stringent.

00:24:59.100 - 00:25:13.010

One good example is we have a great community nonprofit clinic here in Houston- I'm not going to name it. But it has aspired to be an FQHC. But because of its origin, a foundation started

00:25:13.560 - 00:25:28.950

it, it's tied to this foundation, and its, you know, its founders and all. It's been hard for it to convert, because it would have to change its board entirely. And the governing board has a lot to do, of course, with the

00:25:28.950 - 00:25:46.540

history and-and-and all of the of the organization. So-so I think that was to our benefit that we always wanted to be an FQHC. So in 2008, we were a look-alike, that meant that-that we met all of the requirements the government required, you

00:25:46.540 - 00:25:57.450

know, asked of us, but they had no money to give us. Because when you become an FQHC, one of the benefits, one of many benefits, is you get a grant from the federal government.

00:25:58.480 - 00:26:11.720

It starts at about $650,000 a year. Seems like a lot, but you're expected to use that money to serve the underserved, the people that cannot afford services, because you are the safety net.

00:26:12.490 - 00:26:25.980

And so you've got to document how much you're spending, how much things cost. You've got to create your own unit of cost, and it's got to conform with what they're requiring. So you know, it took a lot of that, to do that, especially

00:26:25.980 - 00:26:37.360

when you're starting up. Keeping those records, you know, knowing how to report it. So it really helped to have this woman who understood FQHCs to be at the helm for a while.

00:26:38.030 - 00:26:47.190

And then of course, like I said, Andrea- Dr. Caracostis joined us. And with her knowledge, we were able to become a look-alike. And we stayed a look-alike

00:26:47.190 - 00:27:03.460

for at least three or four years, until the federal government had the funds to create the grants. And we were finally chosen to be an FQHC. So it starts out at $650,000 a year for this grant they give

00:27:03.520 - 00:27:19.810

you with certain expectations. And the reporting, of course, is very precise and all. In its- it grows each year or each time and if you do well, and you show, you know, that you're meeting their- you're complying and you're meeting

00:27:19.850 - 00:27:34.640

their outcomes and all, it grows. I think we're maybe up to 2 million now. So-so that has been a wonderful accomplishment. In addition, being an FQHC, they underwrite the

00:27:34.870 - 00:27:48.010

malpractice insurance that doctors need. And that could take a big bite out of your budget if you have to pay out of your pocket. So that that takes up a big expense.

00:27:48.480 - 00:28:00.230

They also allow us to use- get drugs or, you know, pharmaceuticals at a lower price. There are a lot of advantages, we also get kind of a- I don't want to say incentive.

00:28:01.520 - 00:28:13.610

But it is like a reward for doing well. Some way if you show good outcomes, then you get some additional funding. And our doctors and providers have all, you know, done

00:28:13.630 - 00:28:27.310

well there. So I think we would, you know, we really do-do very well. We've won some awards and stuff, honorariums, and things like that for being a good performer.

00:28:27.830 - 00:28:41.160

So being an FQHC was important so that was a major milestone in about 2012, I'm gonna say. And along the way in- HOPE clinic

00:28:41.570 - 00:28:53.720

expanded. We-we had a new location we-we- our original is in the heart of what we call Asia Town in Houston. We have that location, it's called HOPE Main.

00:28:54.640 - 00:29:09.010

We opened one further down Bellaire Boulevard, which is the corridor going west toward Highway 6, we call that HOPE Alief because the growth of Asia town and the Asian Pacific American community was

00:29:09.100 - 00:29:21.330

growing, you know, more and more that direction. Then we opened another location in Westheimer, which we call a HOPE West. And that was uh- that

00:29:22.640 - 00:29:33.240

was something we had to do because we actually had an office in that area, but it wasn't a standalone kind of a storefront office. It was more in a professional building.

00:29:33.830 - 00:29:50.670

Unfortunately, we lost the lease there, and we had- we had purchased a practice from a OBGYN at the time who wanted to kind of retire and step back. And that was a great direction to go as well because that

00:29:50.670 - 00:30:06.410

allowed us to help start delivering babies and then getting them a medical home with their parents and families so that we kind of built a great client base through that avenue.

00:30:07.540 - 00:30:20.980

And Medicaid, of course, was- funded a lot of that. So that-that was a good source of income. Successful FQHCs, and we have lost a couple in Houston, unfortunately, because they

00:30:20.980 - 00:30:35.570

couldn't adhere to the guidelines or keep up or whatever. But I would say successful FQHCs have a-a good balance of funding sources. Even though you get this

00:30:35.570 - 00:30:52.230

governmental grant, which is a lot, you can't survive just with that. You've got to have third party sources of income. Insurance, Medicaid, Medicare, you know, other sources as well as patients paying their, their own, if

00:30:52.230 - 00:31:07.150

possible. And so FQHCs have sliding fee scales, so that people with very low incomes pay a little and if you have higher incomes, you pay more. Actually, you don't have to be low income to go to an FQHC.

00:31:07.470 - 00:31:22.150

You could pay the full amount. So our-our sliding fee scale has gone from- well we started, it probably, you know, $5-10. I think it's up to $30 now, for the low end, all the way up to you

00:31:22.150 - 00:31:36.960

know, whatever the market price is. And again, the government oversees this so you- we could not like charge an outrageous amount just to make up for some money that we may think we need- make up a deficit or something.

00:31:37.260 - 00:31:48.720

It's got to be within a range. So there's a lot of oversight. But you've got to have a good balance of funding sources, and you've got to serve the community's

00:31:48.720 - 00:32:05.730

needs. So again, we were in the southwest part of Houston, that's where we initially started, a very diverse part of town. We started as an Asian American organization because that was the need at the time.

00:32:06.060 - 00:32:19.970

It has grown into what I call more of an immigrant population. And because Houston has been the home for many immigrants and refugee populations, we've seen the census of our client base,

00:32:20.510 - 00:32:35.220

now shift more to Hispanic because a lot of Hispanics live in that area and then a lot of Hispanics are immigrants that come from other countries. African, because, again,

00:32:35.550 - 00:32:49.470

Africans have been refugees as well. Middle Eastern- they are probably our newest group of refugees that have come. And refugees tend to live in that southwest part of town because it

00:32:49.470 - 00:33:06.710

has a lot of multi-family housing, and it's inexpensive, or at least, you know, affordable. So we attract a lot of different populations there so our-our clinic, I have to say, our claim to fame, our niche, has

00:33:06.710 - 00:33:23.020

been serving the immigrant refugee population, which requires —staffing that speak different languages. And that again, continues to be you know, a challenge, but one that we are very proud to-to meet.

00:33:23.490 - 00:33:37.500

Our staff speak, you know, 30 or more, I mean, the total staff speak a total of 30 or more languages and dialects. So just finding people from-from the community is important.

00:33:37.500 - 00:33:52.600

That's how you find them, is you hire from the community. So that's another-another thing that Asian American Health Coalition /HOPE Clinic does, is they hire from within. So we really are an economic engine for the community,

00:33:53.300 - 00:34:08.000

bringing on staff, you know, and-and a clinic staff is variety of people, doesn't just have to be medical background. You need people doing tech- IT and, you know, janitorial services, and just all kinds.

00:34:08.780 - 00:34:27.170

Of course, our newest milestone, and you know this very well, is our new building that we hope will open in 2023, at the end of 2023. I have to say that when I got back on the board, I think back in

00:34:27.230 - 00:34:40.630

2010-2011, one of the things that I wanted to take up was looking for a permanent home for us. We, you know, lease and rent different spaces and that's fine.

00:34:41.280 - 00:34:54.190

But it's always like we have to make it forced fit to work for us. And then we're at the mercy of the landlord or whoever. We said it's time, we're here to stay. We're gonna be in this part of the city.

00:34:54.700 - 00:35:09.450

They need us - we've been a part for all these years. It's time to kind of put a stake in the ground. So in 2011, we started looking I say we- the Board gave us permission to start looking at

00:35:09.450 - 00:35:25.410

what would work for HOPE Clinic. Should we rent- I mean not rent- should we buy a building already existing and remodel it? We looked into that. Should we partner with somebody else that has an existing building that maybe

00:35:25.410 - 00:35:36.530

we could come together and do something? We kind of looked into that. It took a couple of years. Remember, we're all volunteers because we created a

00:35:36.530 - 00:35:49.230

building committee that took this on. And we finally decided we would purchase property and we knew- and then where? So that took time to assess. Where do we want to be?

00:35:49.290 - 00:36:06.800

Well, we decided that part of town is where we want to be. Bellaire Boulevard is the corridor through the Asia Town area. And it was at- we say Asia Town because the Vietnamese community started to move in there at the early part of 2000.

00:36:06.800 - 00:36:20.810

And they were building businesses, Filipino, you know, a lot of Asian businesses were being located there. Also other non-Asian, so we decided that was a good move. We found property on Bellaire.

00:36:22.580 - 00:36:39.500

It took a while- all of that takes a long time, as we found out. Finally, we decided that we would create a building there, three-story. It started out as 80,000 as we got working on it, and started a capital campaign and reality

00:36:39.500 - 00:36:52.060

set in, it got down to 70,000 . which is still a big building. And to this day, you know, that's what we're going to be building, and we broke ground in-in October,

00:36:52.060 - 00:37:03.100

late October and you were part of that. That's our big thing now, so we look forward to it. And we don't look at it as just a clinic in a building.

00:37:03.160 - 00:37:15.380

It's really a center. We hope it will be a beacon for that community. It's-it's growing, it continues to grow but I think it may begin to, you know,

00:37:15.600 - 00:37:31.210

coalesce the community together. There's a lot of good groups there, the Alief Super Neighborhood, a lot of groups we work with, and International Management District. I think we can all work in concert to really build that part of town up so

00:37:31.450 - 00:37:43.080

we're excited about that. Um, and if you don't mind, I'll just move to what is the next chapter. And actually Andrea- Dr.

00:37:43.080 - 00:37:56.960

Caricostis lovingly calls us the godmothers, but the cofounders of HOPE Clinic and the Asian American Health Coalition, we continue to be involved. I'm on the board, officially, the other three are

00:37:57.750 - 00:38:13.920

supporters, but the four of us have talked, and we really would like to see the Asian American Health Coalition itself. Now that's the parent of the legal name, HOPE Clinic was the name we gave to the clinic.

00:38:14.960 - 00:38:33.110

And actually, it's an acronym for Helping Other People through Encouragement. Beverly Gor actually came up with that acronym HOPE, because she wanted something that reflected a generic type of- didn't want to be specific to any group of

00:38:33.110 - 00:38:48.040

people. Even though we started off with AAPI. Now-now we see that we're very diverse, but HOPE was what, you know, we wanted to give people. So what we'd like to see is sort of going back to our

00:38:48.060 - 00:39:00.610

roots. What got us started, because as I told you, we started in 1996, with the effort to start a healthcare, you know, clinic, but it took us six years to get on the map.

00:39:01.720 - 00:39:17.870

We relied on community outreach and education, research, advocacy, and-and also convening and coalition building. Those were the four kinds of pillars, I call them, that sort of got us to

00:39:17.870 - 00:39:30.540

where we are now, and we'd like to go back to those four pillars and put more emphasis on them. Now that we've got the clinic side of our operation really going well, hopefully it

00:39:30.540 - 00:39:43.610

will continue to go well and grow even more. We'd like to see the other facets that brought us sort of there. And that-that would be those four things I mentioned: education, outreach, advocacy, especially advocacy.

00:39:45.410 - 00:40:00.020

We want to continue advocating for healthcare, affordable health care in general, but also for our community. We still see a lot of needs, disparities within our community. So advocacy is really key.

00:40:00.390 - 00:40:11.740

Convening and coalition building. We didn't do this alone. We had other minority health organizations that we worked together with that we would help each other out.

00:40:11.740 - 00:40:27.450

And we want to continue bringing our-our sister agencies, especially in that part of the city, together. I-I boast a little bit but I think, you know, HOPE Clinic, Asian American Health Coalition has been able to help other

00:40:27.840 - 00:40:38.800

Asian organization nonprofits. Light and Salt comes to mind. They were just a community based group. They did pastoral counseling, because they come from a

00:40:39.290 - 00:40:54.460

faith-based background, mainly Chinese; they were Chinese-speaking. So they did support groups and all. And through some funding, we would sub-grant Light and Salt and other groups, BOAT People SOS, V-Teamwork,

00:40:55.840 - 00:41:11.050

other nonprofits, some grants so that they could do some things they've been able to help grow. So we want to continue coalition building like that, especially in areas that where great need

00:41:11.050 - 00:41:25.590

exists, which you mentioned mental health. That still continues to be a big area, and then research. So the joke used to be when we got started, Anne, Houston would be the-the pilot.

00:41:25.630 - 00:41:40.030

I mean, we wouldn't be the pilot, we'd be the test, whatever you call it, we'd be the control group, because we had nothing here. So they would start a program somewhere else and then they-they compare it to Houston, because you know, we had nothing.

00:41:40.070 - 00:41:55.130

So you're comparing something with nothing. We got tired of being the control group all those years, and so now we, you know, want to generate a lot more of our own research and we have. People like Beverly Gor, who-who has done some

00:41:55.570 - 00:42:07.180

research-research here in Houston and gotten us on the map. But we used to be part of national research projects, and we'd like to do more of that. So the

00:42:07.980 - 00:42:25.680

co-founders, if you will, myself included, we'd like to kind of go back to our roots, and put more emphasis in terms of funding, staffing, organization, behind these four pillars and really build it up more so that it is, you

00:42:25.680 - 00:42:39.150

know, thought of just as much as the clinic side of our work. And then the other thing we've talked about, but we said we're not going to touch it until we get this building built is what's called the PACE program.

00:42:40.020 - 00:42:56.330

PACE is an acronym for Programs All inclusive- oh no I'm sorry. Um yeah, Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly, PACE. And it's a model program that has been funded in all other

00:42:56.390 - 00:43:10.720

states in the country. We have a couple programs in Texas. We applied for a state grant to do PACE, about five or six years ago, maybe-maybe even more, and we didn't get chosen,

00:43:10.720 - 00:43:25.030

unfortunately. The entity that got chosen, was gonna- was gonna start one in Houston. They were going to build a multifamily housing for seniors, and then provide that PACE program there.

00:43:25.490 - 00:43:39.440

Now, what the PACE program is it provides comprehensive medical and social services to certain frail elderly people, so that they can live in the community. So it really is an alternative to

00:43:39.440 - 00:43:53.720

nursing homes. And it's less expensive, it's been shown to be. And it's been shown to be effective because people are- so an elderly person who's in PACE would have a team

00:43:55.500 - 00:44:13.460

of medical and social professionals, so doctors, nurses, social workers, you know, dieticians, whoever the team is, that works with them to keep them from having to go into the hospital or nursing home, and allows them to stay in their own home

00:44:13.570 - 00:44:26.740

longer. And we know from research that seniors that stay in their own home, they do have a better quality of life, they live longer, most of them do. So PACE is another

00:44:27.860 - 00:44:42.520

kind of priority now for us. We'd like to see if we can find some funding, a grant, if the state will open up the grant process again, and possibly, you know, look into having a PACE program here.

00:44:42.950 - 00:45:00.740

Because we've got the health and social team. It's just getting a- we'd like a, you know, we don't want to get into housing but it would be nice to have a multifamily housing facility that seniors can live in and be served

00:45:01.140 - 00:45:09.710

with this PACE program. Anyway, we visited one in San Francisco, that's where it started. It's On Lok.

00:45:10.330 - 00:45:23.580

And it was really gratifying to see it. Of course, they've grown over the decades. They have a transportation system that buses seniors into a community center type of situation so you

00:45:23.680 - 00:45:35.850

don't necessarily have to live in this facility. You can come in from the outside as well. The thing is, it serves dual- it's designed to serve dual eligible seniors.

00:45:35.900 - 00:45:50.710

Dual, meaning eligible for Medicaid and Medicare. But there is a facet of it that I just read where just Medicare recipients could qualify. You have to pay an additional fee that

00:45:51.490 - 00:46:10.360

Medic-Medicaid would have probably picked up. So you know, a dual eligible person is going to be low income, and 55 and over is the eligibility age. But because it's been shown to work in the state- even the state of Texas has,

00:46:10.480 - 00:46:20.420

you know, desire to have them. We hope that, you know, we can find funding to do that. But that would be another new area to branch out in.

00:46:22.460 - 00:46:36.580

Wonderful, thank you, Rogene. This is such an eloquent narrative, really, of the beginning, and now the future of the health clinic. So we can pivot to some other questions, and it has to do more with you.

00:46:36.580 - 00:46:49.120

I think you've been so modest in telling us what happened with the clinic, with your group of godmothers, but I'm more interested in your own personal involvement. First of all, I also have another question; it's that even though the

00:46:49.200 - 00:47:02.230

clinic is growing, and is encompassing, you know, 30 languages and all the refugee community, there must have been a guiding philosophy behind and maybe the four of you had initially some kind of mission statement that

00:47:02.380 - 00:47:16.190

you're aiming to serve everyone, and there are the ways that you displayed your generosity and your humanity by encompassing as many people who need help as possible. So can you tell us a little bit- one, about the philosophy

00:47:16.190 - 00:47:28.210

that led to the beginning of this clinic? And then your personal role? Are you the shaper of the directions of the services? Are you helping mostly with the grant writing, or

00:47:28.420 - 00:47:45.220

of the running of the organization? Why don't we first- let me- I happened to-to write down. Excuse me, our original, the Asian American Health Coalition's mission: “is a nonprofit organization

00:47:46.040 - 00:48:02.330

dedicated to improving the health of all Asian Americans in Houston by increasing access to health care.” This was written back in 1996 remember, so access to health care, and through population-specific health promotion and education projects.

00:48:03.520 - 00:48:18.170

It says it was established in 1994, we probably started meeting earlier, and became a 501C3 in 2001. Objectives were to advocate for a linguistically and culturally competent healthcare system.

00:48:18.640 - 00:48:33.950

I would say that was a major driving force because Beverly, Lynne, and I both worked- not both, all three of us worked in the nonprofit field or public. So I've always worked in

00:48:33.950 - 00:48:47.120

nonprofits, not so much in healthcare. But if-I worked for United Way, that was really community welfare planning association, which was a planning organization. The United Way, I moved into there.

00:48:48.710 - 00:49:04.200

And then I left there to become the executive director of a child abuse prevention organization, but it was primary prevention, and it was trying to prevent child abuse from ever happening before it even happened.

00:49:04.200 - 00:49:14.170

So what does that mean? It means educating, right? So it was really educating, using the media and other public avenues to educate people

00:49:14.260 - 00:49:29.690

about being good parents, that's what it boils down to-to prevent child abuse. And also breaking the cycle for those people that, you know, were victims of child abuse for it not to repeat itself.

00:49:31.500 - 00:49:48.530

They-this was way back in the mid-90s, early actually, early 90s before social media so we really relied on the traditional media at the time, you know, newspapers, TV radio, so that's-that was a lot of my

00:49:48.530 - 00:50:05.630

background. And then after the Child Abuse Prevention Network, I-I retired, that's when I kind of retired a little bit, but while being at home, I also started up some projects. So I got to put into action the skills and expertise that

00:50:05.660 - 00:50:23.270

I acquired over the years working at the CWPA, Community Welfare Planning Association, in the United Way. And that was to develop programs, to write grants, to collaborate with people learning, you know, what-who was out there, how

00:50:23.270 - 00:50:39.750

to work together, things like that, and put all those skills together, to use. But the four-the three or four of us, again, Karen came a little bit later in our history. But we really felt like our community

00:50:39.850 - 00:50:51.290

needed competent services, linguistically and culturally, because that's what made it unique from just going to the everyday, you know, health care system.

00:50:51.910 - 00:51:07.390

The other thing was to provide health promotion, education, information referral. They needed to know where to go, what to do, you know, what were issues, what were problems, how to solve them, you know, that kind of thing. So, education and promotion.

00:51:07.980 - 00:51:21.080

They needed ad- we needed advocacy, nobody was speaking on our behalf. Because, again, the model minority myth, "You guys don't need services. Y'all have everything you need, you're very resourceful." But we needed to

00:51:21.080 - 00:51:39.790

document and talk about why we needed services. So it was incumbent on us to go to different platforms, to speak in front of groups, City Hall, the hospital district, different boards, different vendors to talk about what our needs were.

00:51:40.190 - 00:51:54.180

But we also had to do research and be able to write it down to justify it. So the fourth bullet is sustain a network of Asian American health care providers and advocates, again, bringing

00:51:54.590 - 00:52:10.860

us together to work together, but also to encourage and support the work that was going on among our Asian American providers, maintain a database; we had nothing at the time, so to put that together into a database so that

00:52:10.860 - 00:52:23.370

people could use it. And then the last bullet was “be inclusive of all Asian American groups.” So in the beginning Anne, we did focus on Asian American, that was the whole purpose, because we

00:52:23.370 - 00:52:36.730

had nothing. About, I guess it was after Andrea came so well, it was in the early 2000s, I think. And a couple of us were on the board at the

00:52:36.730 - 00:52:50.950

time, two or three of us, were still on the board. And we had to kind of come to a reconciliation of the fact that our population in that area, as an FQHC, we had to

00:52:51.010 - 00:53:08.420

serve the people that resided in that area; it was not all Asian. So we said okay, we started out as an Asian American organization, that was our whole focus, as you heard the bullets. But the population is

00:53:08.500 - 00:53:23.650

either changing or, you know, it's more diverse. How do we reconcile that? Do we stay the way we are, because there's still a need for Asians. But if we have to, you know, comply with all the

00:53:23.770 - 00:53:40.220

regulations and all, we've got to serve the people that we are here to serve. We research that, we talked to other resources, the Association of Asian Pacific American Community Health Centers, AAPCHC in Oakland, the

00:53:40.220 - 00:53:55.010

Health Forum in San Francisco. And we found that you could do both. And so it was a mental change for us co-founders. But it was an absolute necessity and a good change.

00:53:55.300 - 00:54:08.850

Because you-you must serve the people that you're there to serve, and still retain, you know, still retain that niche. So that's what we've been trying to do: still be a resource for the Asian American

00:54:08.850 - 00:54:18.760

community in our city, but also to be able to serve. And again, like I said, it's really immigrant refugees. It's people who are new to this country,

00:54:19.060 - 00:54:34.780

and that's been a great niche for us. So I don't know if that answered your question but that's kind of a shift that happened in the course of our evolution that you know, it's still something we're balancing and make- trying to

00:54:34.780 - 00:54:51.640

make work. What- how we operate right now, like I said, what are we... 2002, so we are 20 years into the clinic. I was on the board- well, Lynne, Beverly, and I started on the board.

00:54:53.130 - 00:55:06.340

And then Lynne- I was president, Lynne was president, and then the two- both Beverly and Lynne have rotated off. I came back on the board- we have bylaws that say you have to sit out a year at least.

00:55:06.810 - 00:55:22.240

And so after a year or two, I came back on the board that was in 2011- 2010, 2011. And when I came back, I told you my newfound focus was to try to build a building. But the others

00:55:22.390 - 00:55:33.520

are not on the board. And again, as a nonprofit, as an FQHC, our board, our governing board is who we take direction from, and they are led by our paid CEO.

00:55:35.020 - 00:55:53.650

So as a board member, you know, I can input into what direction. But I have to say, as a co-founder, and the other co-founders trying to get input into the system now that has been grown, it has grown what we have a 20- over $20 million dollar

00:55:53.650 - 00:56:13.200

budget now and over 200 employees. So we're humongous, four locations, soon to be five. It's not like we are there every day or any day really. So finding our niche now is a little bit more challenging may I say,

00:56:13.860 - 00:56:29.460

but we do have some input from- because of the historical role we played. And-and Andrea and the board are very open and you know, usually to hear what we

00:56:29.460 - 00:56:44.680

have to say, but there's no formal avenue, except to be on the board, which I think I have another year on my term, and then I'll rotate off. But like anything that you have

00:56:45.070 - 00:56:59.220

created, trying to shape it along the way, I think we've had pretty good application of that. We've been able to do that through our participation formally and informally. But

00:57:00.000 - 00:57:17.650

as it gets bigger and older and all, it probably won't be as easy. So these two new avenues I mentioned trying to go back to the four pillars and then maybe look at a new area PACE. These are things that you know, I know that the

00:57:19.220 - 00:57:31.670

Andrea, certainly as the CEO, has talked about as well. It's just trying to work it in. Yeah. So we want to continue doing that. Now one of the things that Beverly especially, but I

00:57:31.880 - 00:57:47.050

have also helped and Lynne has-has also helped, we have kept the coalition part going of the organization. So of course, you know, HOPE Clinic has it's kind of the tail wagging the dog in a way. But the Asian American Health Coalition is still the legal name and

00:57:47.050 - 00:57:59.120

we still retain the coalition part of our- of our organization. We had held meetings quarterly all last year. And then we've had the health

00:57:59.120 - 00:58:15.040

summit. We've had about five health summits over the years. And the latest one was last fall, we held it virtually- had to because of COVID. Those are some of the activities we've done, we still- we also communicate and

00:58:15.040 - 00:58:30.500

work with our sister minority health coalition groups like the Hispanic Health Coalition, African American Health Coalition. Unfortunately, the American In- what do we call it the... not the American Indian...

00:58:32.120 - 00:58:40.710

Anyway, that coalition has kind of fallen a bit. You know, it depends on leadership. And unfortunately, the people involved

00:58:41.230 - 00:58:55.800

have-have moved away. But the Hispanic and the African American Coalition still exists. So we try to work with them, especially in this day of-of health inequities and disparities and racial, you know,

00:58:56.920 - 00:59:12.370

hatred and all. When we had the anti-Asian hate, you know, projects and outpouring, our sister coalitions came- you know, we came up

00:59:12.400 - 00:59:26.420

with a statement together, that we published, just to show support of each other. So we continue to do that kind of thing. But the- I don't know if that answered your question.

00:59:26.480 - 00:59:39.880

Very much so. Does the coalition have a physical address? Or do you just meet on a regular basis somewhere? So when-when we were meeting in person, we met at the HOPE Clinic. So yeah, so we would get a room

00:59:39.950 - 00:59:56.120

there, and you know, we'd hold our meetings, have a speaker... It's a great- because nobody else is doing it, first of all. I mean, when people wonder about Asian American health, they go to HOPE clinic you know, but all the staff,

00:59:56.180 - 01:00:14.590

there are many of them, are already occupied doing different things. So having this coalition —us —involved is beneficial. And-and so when people have new projects they're launching, or they want to talk about a

01:00:14.740 - 01:00:27.200

thing that they've done, a book they've written, a research project they've just released or something, the coalition is a great platform to do that. So yeah, so we do it virtually now, because of COVID.

01:00:27.800 - 01:00:44.090

We had a meeting a month, I mean, a quarter ago, in, I guess, November, on mental health. And it also gives us a chance to showcase our Asian American providers, mental health, physical health, you

01:00:44.090 - 01:00:55.770

know, research, it depicts a lot of different projects. A couple of researchers from U of H have spoken. And then it's an outlet for them also. They need subjects, you

01:00:55.770 - 01:01:09.770

know, they come, and we publicize it and let people know that this is being done, you know, if you'd like to participate. No, that's-that's what we're wanting. We're wanting- and again,

01:01:09.770 - 01:01:24.040

because Andrea is actually the, you know, the head of it as the CEO of Asian American Health Coalition, the legal entity, we have to work with her. I mean, we work with her, but she doesn't have the time.

01:01:24.130 - 01:01:35.630

And the bandwidth. I mean, she should, she's busy with the clinic, and other things and so what we're trying to get- the board, we did meet with a board, just to let you know.

01:01:36.640 - 01:01:51.350

When I say we, the co-founders, we met with a board, we shared with them our desire to put funding and emphasis and, you know, priority into those four pillars, so we could build them up. So that would require some

01:01:51.380 - 01:02:05.900

funding, and we even offered to write grants, because we-we know that there would be some support for that, especially coalition building. And it's just-it's just a matter of us getting the group

01:02:05.960 - 01:02:13.700

going to go ahead and do that. But we're willing and able to do it. And to build that more. And so what I- what that would look like, you're

01:02:14.320 - 01:02:28.400

probably wondering, well, what does this mean, to me, what it would look like is that organizationally, we would have a division or department, if you will, that does reflect those pillars, you know, to- not-not to say we're not

01:02:28.570 - 01:02:42.450

doing some of these things, I think we are and Andrea does say we do submit them. But you know, they're like part of the clinic. We'd like to see them take on a bigger and stronger role and have staffing,

01:02:42.940 - 01:02:57.020

so like a director maybe. Uh I want to say public affairs, external affairs or something that would oversee this, to beef up our advocacy so that when we're talking about Medicaid

01:02:58.530 - 01:03:13.360

expansion, for example, and we need to really show our support of that, we can-we can do that kind of thing. Outreach and education to real- we go out to apartments in different places to share information.

01:03:13.360 - 01:03:31.610

We have fairs; people come in, but you know, to d-to do a lot more of that. And something, maybe even do education through media. Convening and coalition building, I think that's the strongest thing we do, by holding our meetings and our summits, is we bring

01:03:31.610 - 01:03:46.070

people together. and people always invigorated by it afterwards. Research, I know even Andrea has said this, that-that she'd like to see us take part in more clinical trials, you know, really encouraged- because

01:03:46.360 - 01:03:58.100

Asian Americans are not, you know, they don't do clinical trials that much. They're always seeking people from our community and to really educate people as to

01:03:58.100 - 01:04:18.150

why that's important and, you know, to be sure they're getting into clinical trials that are good for them and everything like that, but-but participate more in that kind of research. Yeah, so it's gonna take some funding. And also, structurally, organizationally, we're going to build out

01:04:19.420 - 01:04:32.890

that-that and prioritizing it, making it you know, higher kind of on the list of things to do. Thank you. So we only have seven minutes left. I know you have a hard stop.

01:04:33.620 - 01:04:45.200

Tell us a little bit about yourself, the awards you've won - so modest. So I know they're all important, but maybe the most recent, the Random Acts of...

01:04:45.200 - 01:05:00.040

The most recent; it's a Random Acts of Kindness. And I had honestly not heard of this group before. And so when they contacted me, I kind of looked them up and I saw somebody involved that I know and he was probably

01:05:00.040 - 01:05:15.770

very instrumental in getting my name in the hopper. But they are a nonprofit group, a couple, that had started it. And once they pick a day in July, but I believe that they call it Random Acts of Kindness Day, and they do service

01:05:16.270 - 01:05:30.380

projects, much-much like MLK Day. And they have-they choose about seven or eight people to be recipients of this award. So I was among some great folks that were awarded

01:05:30.380 - 01:05:44.620

this, and they have a event. And this was in the middle of COVID- well, it was last summer so COVID was maybe subsided a little bit at that time. So they felt safe having a in-person event at the hotel,

01:05:45.410 - 01:05:55.500

and it was very nice. And they had, you know, the mayor there, they had people there to give us our awards. So I was very honored, because I had not heard of them.

01:05:55.520 - 01:06:07.280

This couple, because of their background and things that have happened to them felt that this is something they wanted to dedicate themselves to. And of course, you know, Robert Woods Johnson, it's a great foundation.

01:06:07.760 - 01:06:22.570

And they had been given a grant to seven or eight different groups. And they in turn, would identify people in their network. So one was AAPI, the Asian American Caucus, that

01:06:23.600 - 01:06:40.730

group. One was the Hispanics, the African Americans, the young people, the elderly, and a couple of other groups. And so they were given this grant for three years, to identify

01:06:40.730 - 01:06:58.760

people in that-in that network that was, you know, qualified, and they felt should receive the Robert Woods Johnson Health Equity award. That they had done something in that-in that area to help

01:06:59.810 - 01:07:13.650

address health inequities. So I was really honored to get that because this is a national award, and there are a lot of great people. But my work with HOPE Clinic, I think, was one of the keys to my being selected

01:07:13.700 - 01:07:32.110

and it was a great opportunity. And Robert Woods Johnson, two years after that, hosted the winners to come back to support the winner for that year and to come together and hear about their stories- I have the

01:07:32.110 - 01:07:44.840

chance to travel up to Princeton, where they are, and-and see them again there. And it's a great oppo- it was a great opportunity. Congratulations, I'm so honored.

01:07:45.360 - 01:07:59.610

That's wonderful. So thank you for your whole- I mean, you gave us so much information so that we can trace the history of HOPE Clinic and the Asian American Health Alliance, as well. So, going forward, you've already indicated your interest in getting

01:07:59.650 - 01:08:13.440

PACE off the ground and maybe having a more concrete manifestation of the coalition itself. Now, we probably need to schedule another interview 10 years from now. It's a date, it's a date.

01:08:13.640 - 01:08:26.940

We'll do that. Anything else you'd like to tell us about- whether it's about you or the Health Alliance or the coalition or HOPE Clinic or anything else and before we-we have a few more minutes before you have to sign off, like three

01:08:27.120 - 01:08:43.960

minutes. You're so sweet. I think I've covered the high spots. I do want to thank you Anne and your family for all you've done to help HOPE clinic and-and you see the vision as well and helped us realize a lot of it so we

01:08:43.960 - 01:09:00.010

appreciate that. I um, I don't know. I think the-the other- the other thing that we'd like to do is to work with our young people. You and I started the conversation about that. And I think the coalition, if we can straighten that

01:09:00.130 - 01:09:15.430

and make it on a more regular basis, and like you say staffing, I think would help a lot, we can outreach more and have a platform for our young people, or people new to the- to the area, to really get more involved.

01:09:15.630 - 01:09:31.230

I don't think we're capturing that as well as we should. And as you said we should learn from history, if we can- your-your Houston Asian American Archive's just been tremendous. I know that the Health Coalition- Asian American

01:09:31.520 - 01:09:45.280

Health Coalition, we are dedicated to try to move things your way and hopefully provide a place for us. And then the Asian American Family Counseling Center- I need to get with Kim Szeto and maybe we can begin to develop

01:09:46.480 - 01:10:01.230

a-a place for all of their things because that needs to be put somewhere as well. So thank you for that resource. Without it we'd be sitting here in our closet- with all this in our closets. But that would be another to do on my

01:10:01.230 - 01:10:12.990

bucket list. We would love to have your materials, just let us know. Good luck. Thank you, thank you. Well thank you Anne. It was a pleasure-

01:10:13.550 - 01:10:26.830

Yeah, it's wonderful to learn of all the things you've done, and I think you may know Asia Society Texas Center is developing a set of curriculums for Asian Studies for high school. The first story we featured, providing

01:10:26.830 - 01:10:36.860

our materials was Gee family. The first set of stories will be HOPE clinic. And that's why these interviews will be very instrumental in their developing curriculum. So we may come back to you for some

01:10:36.970 - 01:10:49.990

clarification, facts, and dates. And I need to connect your students or you with Lynne Hyunh. She's prepared to talk to you. And if you need to talk with Beverly again, that would be great or Karen

01:10:50.020 - 01:11:00.610

Tso so those are the other three partners in crime, whenever you're ready. We are ready, then I'll come- I'll follow up with an email. Okay. Very good.

01:11:00.640 - 01:11:09.560

Well, we'll talk again with the other things. You have a great day- and have a good move. I hope it goes smoothly for you. I hope everything's working in the new house.

01:11:11.910 - 01:11:13.350

Thank you so much. Thank you.