{"id":27509,"date":"2020-08-18T11:21:17","date_gmt":"2020-08-18T18:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=27509"},"modified":"2020-08-18T11:21:17","modified_gmt":"2020-08-18T18:21:17","slug":"asian-health-services-and-alameda-county-free-asian-multilingual-multicultural-covid-19-test-site-in-oakland-chinatown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=27509","title":{"rendered":"ASIAN HEALTH SERVICES AND ALAMEDA COUNTY FREE, ASIAN MULTILINGUAL, MULTICULTURAL COVID-19 TEST SITE IN OAKLAND CHINATOWN"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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Community leaders join forces to encourage testing, offer wraparound support to Asian American and Pacific Islander Community<\/em><\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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OAKLAND, CA — Tuesday, August 18, 2020 — Sherry Hirota, CEO of Asian Health Services in Oakland, Colleen Chawla, Director of Alameda County Health Care Services Agency and Dr. Jocelyn Freeman Garrick, Deputy Medical Director for Emergency Medical Services and Lead for Alameda County\u2019s Testing Taskforce will announce the launch of the Asian Health Services and Alameda County COVID-19 Test Site.<\/p>\n

Located at Madison Park in Oakland\u2019s Chinatown, the site features testing, information, guidance, and support services in 12 Asian languages, including Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Tagalog, and Mongolian. Tests are available to everyone. Payment or insurance are not required, immigration status will not be asked, and it is not necessary to be a patient at Asian Health Services to receive a test and follow up support.<\/p>\n

It is possible to have COVID-19 and spread it without experiencing symptoms. COVID-19 symptoms include cough, fever or chills, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, body aches or muscle pain, headache, sore throat, runny nose or congestion, nausea, diarrhea, or a new loss of smell or taste.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlacing a testing site in Oakland\u2019s Chinatown centralizes a critical resource within a community that carried the burden of stigma since the early days of this pandemic,\u201d said Alameda County District 3 Supervisor Wilma Chan. \u201cBut this virus has no boundaries and it\u2019s essential for anyone who is sick, has come into close contact with someone with COVID-19, or is working on the frontlines to come get tested and receive care and support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asian Health Services recently completed a survey of 1300 Asian Americans\u00a0in Alameda County. Key findings revealed a 3% rate of COVID-19 testing among Asian American, compared to an approximate 10% rate of testing of all ethnicities in California. The study cites high rates of fear and anxiety, loss of jobs, and severe lack of income and food.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are fighting back against being both blamed and ignored in this pandemic,\u201d said Ms. Hirota. \u201cOur community masked early, felt the rise in anti-Asian hate, and went underground. Now we must ensure that each of us is safe and supported. Our goal is to make sure our community has access to in language and in culture education, testing, counseling, case management, referrals, and compassion. We hope to see our community out in force to test and receive care, in language, and in culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asian Health Services and Alameda County Community Test Site<\/strong>
\nWhere<\/strong>: Madison Park, 810 Jackson Street, Oakland, 94607
\nWhen<\/strong>: Tuesdays: 12:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.; Thursdays and Fridays: 8:00 am to 4:00 p.m.
\nTo make an appointment:<\/strong>\u00a0Please visit\u00a0color.com\/AHS<\/a>. For assistance, please call the Asian Health Services Multilingual Helpline at 510\/735-3222<\/p>\n

\u201cA testing site that serves the multicultural population of Oakland\u2019s Chinatown is a necessary piece of Alameda County\u2019s testing infrastructure,\u201d said Alameda County District 5 Supervisor Keith Carson. \u201cCOVID-19 spreads easily in close communities and ensuring our residents and workers have the information they need in their language is vital to keep our friends, families and neighbors safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Testing plays a vital role in stopping the spread of COVID-19. Alameda County has a coordinated strategy to place testing sites in areas to best reach disproportionately impacted communities of color, including the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. Alameda County is well passed its testing capacity goal of 3,100 tests per day. Additional free community testing sites are available in West Oakland, Fruitvale, East Oakland, San Leandro, Hayward and Pleasanton.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlameda County\u2019s partnerships with community clinics like Asian Health Services has been invaluable.\u201d said Dr. Jocelyn Freeman Garrick, Deputy Medical Director of Alameda County Emergency Medical Services and Lead for Alameda County\u2019s Testing Taskforce. \u201cMembers of hard to reach populations are able to access testing from trusted providers in their communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur mission is to end the injustice of health disparities,\u201d Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said. \u201cEvery Oaklander should have access to a free COVID-19 test today, and we will continue to work intentionally to reach our most underserved communities. I want to thank Alameda County Health Care Services Agency and all of our fiercely devoted community health center partners who will bring this care to our most vulnerable neighborhoods and residents.\u201d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Community leaders join forces to encourage...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27509"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27510,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27509\/revisions\/27510"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}