EHC Shadowing Reflections: Asian Health Services (AHS)

Hiroki Sakurada

My name is Hiroki Sakurada, third-year student, Kyoto University Medical School. I visited AHS(Asian Health Services) as a shadowing program of EHC with two other participants on March 15 th . This is a free clinic mainly for immigrants from Asia who have limited access to healthcare. It is located in the suburb of SF, where there are plenty of immigrants. Actually, Japan does not have such institutions, so I decided to go there to develop my comprehension of what is unique to the US regarding healthcare system.

What counts about AHS is that they can cater to patients speaking 11 languages such as Vietnamese, Mandarin, and so forth. This is not conceivable in Japan, where the majority of patients speak Japanese and there are very few immigrants unlike in the US. Also, at that clinic, doctors can prescribe medicines for free if necessary, which is not introduced to the Japanese system as well. I assumed that the US system was not affordable or helpful for patients, because the medical fees are quite expensive, and additionally doctors may refuse to accept patients they cannot gat many profits from. However, to my surprise, what I witnessed in the clinic contradicted my assumption. Seemingly, doctors tried to be friendly and easy to talk with, and also take care of patients in a kind way, regardless of where they are from and their conditions. In my observation, this is how the US society meets the demand of poor people, mainly immigrants.

To be sure, it is not obvious that this system, where people from poor family backgrounds are taken care of in free clinics, works very well and can apply to other countries. However, there are numerous things Japan can learn from these institutions. Currently, in Japan, UHIS(universal health insurance system) enables most citizens to have easy access to healthcare, but this may not be sustainable in a long run in the aging society. Therefore, it could be one of the effective solutions for the Japanese society to shift to a society where different people can get treated easily without regard to the social conditions.


Hisa Mukohira

AHS, Asian Health Services, is a community health center that offers primary health care services for the medically underserved, including the immigrant and refugee Asian community. Their staff is fluent in English and twelve Asian languages: Cantonese, Vietnamese, Mandarin etc.

I went to do shadowing at Frank Kiang Medical Center with two other medical students. It is one of the satellite clinics of AHS, located on the East side of Lake Merritt in Oakland.

Before the shadowing, a VIA staff showed us around the clinic, and we found the store “out of the closet” which sells secondhand items. He told me that the word “closet” implies that many of LGBTs don’t come out the fact that they are so.

In the shadowing, we saw the doctors seeing patients. They saw patients in Vietnamese and Mandarin respectively because the patient were not fluent in English. I thought it is very good for the patients to see the doctors in their native languages, as I can imagine how difficult it is to tell others about physical condition. And I am sure that AHS don’t only improve the patients’ health but also relieve them. Giving patients a sense of security is an important factor of good clinics.

In Japan there are no clinics which offer medical services like AHS do. So this was a very good opportunity for me to know a part of medical situation in the US. I greatly appreciate the doctors and other clinic staffs having some time to show us in the clinic.

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