Health and Human Services

Since I am a Public Health major, I was really looking forward to what I could learn during Health and Human Services week. I got to work with Darcie Kiyan, who has been involved with the JCCsj and various health organizations, and Wes Mukoyama, who used to be the Executive Director of Yu-Ai Kai.

This week involved meeting with many different people from different places who work in different sectors of Health and Human Services. First, I met with Grace Melanio of Community Health Partnership to hear more about the public policy and advocacy side of public health. I saw some demographics of Santa Clara County and what issues, health wise, we face in the community.

I want to back up a little here. Public Health is a very broad field, ranging from public policy and working with government, to infectious diseases like AIDS and Malaria, to biostatistics, to social services, and several other areas of study. To compare Public Health to Med focused organizations, Med is focused on treating people after they get sick or hurt, whereas Public Health tries to focus on preventing people from getting sick or hurt in the first place.

I also met with Jeanne Wun, of Hospice of the Valley. Hospice care is there in order to allow people without much time left to live to be able to get their last wishes in order and die how they want to. Jeanne also talked to me about making others aware of one's last wishes. For instance, if someone is pronounced brain dead, they could have already stated that they don't want to live off of life support if there is no way they are coming back. In other words, make it easier for friends and family at the time of passing.

A quilt of pictures made by children who had parents in hospice care.

Next, I spoke with Vanessa Merlano at the Santa Clara County Public Health Department. Vanessa's work focuses on violence and injury prevention with seniors, so especially injury prevention. This involves helping to prevent falls, keeping seniors active, preventing them from feeling alone, and fighting diseases like Alzheimer's.

Finally, I also met with Michele Lew of Asian Americans for Community Involvement, or AACI for short. AACI started out as an advocacy group for Asian and Pacific Islander immigrants, many of whom did not know English or English was not their first language. Now, they provide both services and some advocacy to help anyone in the community, regardless of race, and especially immigrants. It was interesting to see how AACI was so thoughtful for its patients, and attempted to fight problems with bilingual workers, mental health workers, and a HIV office made to help people afraid of the stigma that comes with the disease.

Thursday was intern day in SF again. First, we met with Steve Nakajo of Kimochi. He showed us a video of Fillmore Street and its history. This included its popularity after the 1906 Earthquake and the incarceration of Japanese Americans being sent to camp, allowing for African Americans to move in as jobs surged in World War II. He then spoke to us about Kimochi and how it is giving back to the elders of the community. After lunch, we met with David Oda, a former NCI and Berkeley alum. He currently works with Linked In, so he talked about Linked In and how it is a good tool to look for jobs. He also talked about leadership skills and had us take a self-quiz to see our strengths and weaknesses in leadership positions.

I really enjoyed Health and Human Services week, especially since I am a Public Health major, as I got to talk to people in careers that I might be interested in. Plus, Darcie and Wes had many connections within the community. I look forward to working with Yu-Ai Kai next week and learning more in the field of Public Health!