Press Advisory: National Groups Highlight Health Care Equality within Health Care Reform

MEDIA ADVISORY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 23, 2009

Contact: Carol Kim (323) 937-3703

National Groups Highlight Health Care Equality within Health Care Reform

Korean American Seniors Participate in the Launch of the HealthCare Equality Project

What: Community Health Promoters, the Korean Resource Center (KRC), and the National Korean American Service and Education Consortium (NAKASEC) will hold a press event in partnership with the HealthCare Equality Project, a national campaign to fight for health care equity in America. The Project provides a platform to include health care equity as an integral part of the national health reform movement.

When: Thursday, March 26, 2009, 10:30 AM

Where: Korean Resource Center, 900 S. Crenshaw Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90019

Who: Dal Rey Lee (KRC/Community Health Promoter), Carol Kim (NAKASEC/Policy Manager), YangHee Park (KRC/ Health Access Service Coordinator), HeeJoo Yoon (KRC/Program Director)

Why: President Barack Obama has committed to reforming healthcare this year. Many people of color, such as Koreans Americans, are underserved by the current health care system. They often receive lower quality of care due to discrimination, cultural incompetence, a focus on individuals rather than communities and families, and the high costs. In the County of Los Angeles, Korean American seniors experience numerous difficulties in navigating the local healthcare system.

Community Health Promoters are setting an example for national health reform efforts by seeking to break barriers for immigrant communities on the local level. Through their language access campaign, they are improving the health status of limited-English proficient patients living in the County of Los Angeles.

NAKASEC and KRC want to ensure that healthcare reform efforts—beyond expanding insurance coverage—become an engine for reducing the unfair, pervasive, and life-threatening healthcare disparities that plague women and racial, ethnic, and other minorities.