Irene Yee Riley, a member of the San Francisco Housing Commission, left, and Mae Woo, a member of the City Hall Preservation Advisory Commission, attend the lunch reception to inaugurate the Asian Heart & Vascular Center?s advisory cabinet.
Four outstanding community leaders were inducted last week as the founding advisory cabinet members of the UCSF Asian Heart and Vascular Center (AHVC).
Serving on the cabinet are Irene Yee-Riley, a member of the San Francisco Housing Authority; Mae Woo, a member of the City Hall Preservation Advisory Commission; Ellen Chan, controller of Worldco Company, Ltd.; and Sandy Yu, president of the Renoir Hotel.
The UCSF Asian Heart and Vascular Center, located at UCSF Medical Center at Mount Zion, held its grand opening celebration last May. This is the first center in the country to focus on the specific cardiovascular needs of Asian Americans, including the provision of interpreter services to patients with limited English proficiency.
Yee Riley, who was elected president at the inaugural advisory cabinet meeting, and Chan, cabinet member, both acknowledged that the Chinese community in the San Francisco Bay Area has responded well to AHVC's classes that were given in Cantonese on different cardiovascular topics over the past year. They would like to see more of the same types of classes conducted to enhance the health literacy of the community.
Yu was part of the audience that listened attentively as Gordon Fung, MD, director of AHVC, explained the symptoms of transient ischemic attack, a significant warning sign of stroke. Fung emphasized that this is the type of health education that the community really needs to know, so they can get to a hospital within the three-hour window of time needed for effective stroke treatment.
Woo recommended offering line dancing classes to keep fit and blood pressures normal, thus keeping the stroke risk factors at bay.
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Standing by the Chinese calligraphy art sign for the Asian Heart & Vascular Center, are from left, CC Yu, Sandy Yu, Diana Lau, Irene Yee-Riley, Mae Woo, Ellen Chan and Brenda McNulty, director of international development at UCSF. |
"These cabinet members clearly demonstrated the enthusiasm, passion, and kindred spirits needed to help this one-year-old center grow," said Diana Lau, RN, MS, CNS, administrative director of the Asian Heart and Vascular Center. "With the assistance and support of this newly formed advisory cabinet, the Asian Heart and Vascular Center is planning its first anniversary celebration to be held next month, and is also ready to launch a new phase of program development in the near future."
Related Links:
UCSF Opens First Asian Heart and Vascular Center in the United States
UCSF Today, May 15, 2006
UCSF Asian Heart and Vascular Center
