Asian Pacific Psychological Services Honors NAWHO Founder Mary Hayashi

Asian Pacific Psychological Services (APPS) will honor NAWHO's Founder and President, Mary Hayashi, at their 10th Anniversary event on October 19, 2006. In celebration of its 10 years of service in the San Francisco Bay Area, APPS is recognizing those who have contributed to the organization's success in mental health care and who work to enhance the quality of life for historically underserved Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Since 1996, the Oakland-based APPS has been dedicated to providing culturally competent mental health services through programs that are family-focused, community-centered, and strength-based, spanning the continuum of care from prevention to intervention to treatment.

For more information, please visit Asian Pacific Psychological Services at www.appsweb.org

Iris Alliance Fund Hosts Fifth Annual Gala in San Francisco

The Iris Alliance Fund, a project of NAWHO, held its Fifth Annual Gala fundraiser on September 20, 2006 at the Carnelian Room of San Francisco's Bank of America building. This event featured returning keynote speaker Tipper Gore and honoree Patti Chang of The Women's Foundation of California. Former KRON-4 News Health Producer Kevin McCormack served as emcee.

That same day, the Iris Alliance Fund convened its annual meeting of the National Leadership Council. This year's National Leadership Council meeting and gala looked at mental health and gender, with a focus on postpartum depression. The meeting featured the release of the Iris Alliance Fund’s new opinion poll of 1000 California parents about postpartum depression. The study found that 52% of respondents either experienced postpartum depression, or knew someone who had. At the same time, 36% said would they would likely do nothing and wait for the symptoms to pass if they or their partner were suffering from PPD.

To learn more about the poll and the event, please visit the Iris Alliance Fund.

National Korean American Community Group Honors Mary Hayashi

Korean Churches for Community Development will honor Iris Alliance Fund President Mary Hayashi at its annual Legacy Awards Dinner in Los Angeles on October 21, 2005. The annual event recognizes those who have contributed to the advancement of the Korean American Community.

 “I feel privileged to be acknowledged by a group that works so tirelessly on behalf of the Korean American community,” Ms. Hayashi said. “Their focus on removing the cultural, language and economic barriers the community faces complements the Iris Alliance Fund’s efforts to eliminate similar barriers to quality mental health care.”

The Legacy Awards Dinner is part of the events surrounding KCCD’s 4th Annual Lighting the Community Conference: Building Blocks for Success: Investing in our Youth, Strengthening our Communities, and Securing Funding for our Future. Korean Churches for Community Development is a nonprofit faith-based organization that serves as a bridge between the Asian American community and the greater community at large in connecting and creating private and public collaborations.

For more information, please visit www.kccd3300.org.

NAWHO Report Looks at Adult Attitudes Toward Diabetes

NAWHO's publication reports the findings of its national diabetes questionnaire that looked at adult attitudes and perceptions of the growing problem of obesity and type II diabetes among children. The questionnaire results were first presented at NAWHO's December 14, 2004 summit on Asian American children and diabetes, and underscore the need for more education about diabetes and its links to lifestyle habits for Asian American communities.

To download the report, please visit our publications section.

Honoring California Congressman Robert Matsui

The Honorable Robert T. Matsui, who served for more than 25 years as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, died on Saturday, January 1, 2005, after battling a recent illness. He was 63. A senior member of Congress who served on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Congressman Matsui was also extremely popular with his constituents. In 2004, 71 percent of voters in District 5 cast ballots to keep him in office.

At the 10th Anniversary Conference and Gala in April 2004, NAWHO honored Congressman Matsui and his wife, Doris, for their work as advocates on behalf of diverse communities across California and the nation, inspiring generations of Asian Americans with their leadership, compassion, and dedication.

"Congressman Matsui was a dedicated public servant who fought for the rights of not only Asian Americans, but all Americans, especially children," said NAWHO founder Mary Hayashi. "He was a tremendous role model, and I feel lucky that I was able to call him my friend. He will be greatly missed, and I express my deepest sympathies to his family."

His many legislative achievements include the 1997 CHILD ACT, a bill to provide health care coverage to uninsured children that became the basis of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), a groundbreaking effort that has made significant progress in providing low income children with health insurance. Interned himself as an infant in 1942, Congressman Matsui in 1988 helped shepherd the Japanese-American Redress Act through Congress, in which the government formally apologized for the World War II internment program and offered token compensation to victims. He was also instrumental in the designation of Manzanar, a wartime relocation center 200 miles northeast of Los Angeles, as a national historic site and in obtaining land on the National Mall in Washington, DC, for the memorial to Japanese American patriotism in World War II.

The Matsui family and friends are establishing a charitable fund in memory of the Congressman and ask that all gifts be sent to The Matsui Foundation for Public Service, P.O. Box 1347, Sacramento, CA 95812.

Mary Hayashi Appointed to the Board of Registered Nursing

Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez (D-Los Angeles) today announced he has appointed health care advocate Mary C. Hayashi to the Board of Registered Nursing.

"Mary Hayashi has spent more than 14 years advocating for health care issues," said Speaker Núñez. "Her longstanding dedication to health awareness for Asian Americans, suicide prevention, and cancer prevention makes her a great fit for this board."

The Board of Registered Nursing licenses and regulates registered nursing in California.

Learn More About NAWHO’s Founder.