Wednesday, June 23, 2010

This Week at AAHI....

This past week AAHI was able to successfully participate in four great events.

1 - Holy Cross Hospital with help from some community partners (AAHI included) hosted an educational and interested cancer disparities conference entitled Cancer: It Does Not Discriminate on Saturday June 12th. The conference featured a keynote given by Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services Director, Uma Ahluwalia about health care reform. In addition, many different community resources were showcased lending to a very informative event.

2 - On Monday June 14th, AAHI hosted Kaiser Permanente for an open enrollment event. Under Kaiser Permanente's Bridge Health Insurance plan, individuals who do not qualify for Medicaid or Medicare and do not receive employee sponsored insurance can enroll in Kaiser's insurance plan and pay a subsidized premium every month with a minimal copay at the time of a doctor's visit. At the event, Kaiser collected 97 applications.

3 - On Wednesday June 16th, AAHI staff members, Atyya Cahudhry and Sanjana Quasem, along with summer interns Arina Kadam, Shazra Azeez, and Deborah Ngan, attended the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene's Health Disparities Bazaar. Find pictures below:












































































































4 - The youth tobacco cessation event, Teens Tackling Tobacco, took place on Friday June 18th at the Rio in Germantown. Guest speaker and entertainer, Sterlen Barr along with his entourage of cousins, grabbed the attention of many who passed by to create a community event. Through a showcase of high energy break dances and interactive exercise demonstrations, Barr successfully delivered his anti-tobacco message to Montgomery County's youth. Check out these pictures from the event:































































Wednesday, June 9, 2010

AAHI Welcomes Summer 2010 Interns!


Arina Kadam is a Student Intern for the Asian American Health Initiative. She is a rising senior at the University of Maryland, College Park and is working towards her Bachelor of Science degree in Community Health with a minor in Spanish Language & Literature. On the College Park campus, Arina is the Vice President of the Student Health Advisory Committee under the University Health Center, and has consequently gained experience in marketing & promotional health activities. She is looking forward to an enriching internship that will allow her to directly apply her classroom knowledge while getting an insider’s view of the Public Health field.

Deborah Ngan is a student intern for the Asian American Health Initiative. She is a graduate from Col. Zadok Magruder High School in Rockville, MD and will be attending the University of Maryland College Park as a freshman this fall majoring in Biological Sciences. Throughout high school, she was an active member of the Student Government Association at a school, county, and state level. She has lead numerous leadership workshops for the Maryland Association of Student Council through the Middle/High School Conference, Legislative Session, and Convention. She hopes to expand her understanding and exposure to the public health field from this internship.

Shazra Azeez is a student intern at the Asian American Health Initiative. She is currently a Community Health major at the University of Maryland College Park. She went to Montgomery College for two years where she majored in psychology and early childhood education. She is a recipient of the Transfer Academic Excellence Scholarship from the University of Maryland. Shazra is a Sri Lankan American and a Muslim American. She is very interested in Asian American health and hopes to be able to use her skills and knowledge from AAHI to better serve the community and the world.

Youth Tobacco Event & Cancer Education Event!

AAHI is gearing up for two great events in the next week or so! We welcome you to attend these educational community events with us.

Teens Tackle Tobacco promises to be a great event with educational rapper and entertainer, Sterlen Barr. Learn more about Sterlen at his website: . Join us at the Rio in Germantown, MD on Friday June 18th. Be sure to spread the word to your friends and family.





Cancer: It Does Not Discriminate is THIS SATURDAY June 12th from 8:30am to 1:30pm at Holy Cross Hospital. Join AAHI and other minority health organizations for a great program!


Burmese Water Festival

This past Sunday, June 6th, the Burma America Buddhist Association celebrated the Burmese New Year. The festival is called Thingyan and is widely known as the Water Festival. Traditionally, this celebration is held in April, but due to weather concerns, it was pushed back to June.
The event was filled with traditional dances and food. The children played with water and splashed attendees. AAHI set up an information table. Along with educating the community members about AAHI, AAHI was able to learn about the Burmese culture.

AAHI would like to thank the Burma America Buddhist Association for allowing us to participate in this festive celebration!





Attendees offering food to the Monks.










Atyya and health promoters, Shamim and Peter putting together AAHI informational bags.











Peter handing out AAHI informational bags to festival attendees.












Kids getting ready to splash the attendees.












Health promoters, Shamim and Jean educating Burmese community members about AAHI.










Shamim reaching out to a Bengali family in attendance at the festival.











Jamie, Shamim and Peter enjoying falooda, a traditional Burmese dessert.