View the San Francisco for Sunday, May 19, 2024
Ten years ago, San Francisco City Hall was brimming with Asian American representation, the culmination of years of progress from a generation of political and civic leaders knee-deep in the community.of the Board of Supervisors were Asian American. Three were of Chinese descent , one was Korean and another was part-Japanese and part-Chinese .. It’s a concerning trend for a community — most of which is Chinese — that represents roughly a third of The City’s population.
One of those — called “H Hour” — was co-founded by David Chiu, who, from 2009 to 2014, was the first Chinese American to represent Chinatown on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Eric Mar and Kim, who each were involved with H Hour, were also central to a similar monthly group called “Locus Arts,” which was more tailored towards the Asian American art scene.
“That was the peak of our presence at City Hall,” said Norman Yee, who in 2019 became the second Asian American president of the Board of Supervisors, after Chiu.These days, most of the leaders from that era have either moved onto different government positions, termed out of office or weren’t reelected. And there has been a dearth of Asian American candidates waiting to replace them.
Yee offered a similar sentiment, though he also pinned the blame on elected officials — himself included — for not fostering the next group of Asian American leaders. Now, it’s standard for most political candidates in The City to distribute multilingual pamphlets and have their Chinese name directly next to their English name on the ballot.
Chiu admitted the Asian American generation behind him doesn’t seem to be as interested in political careers. “The bubonic plague hit San Francisco in the early 1900s,” said Dr. Jian Zhang, CEO of Chinese Hospital, referring to the 1900-04 epidemic that preceded the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-19. “So at that time, when bubonic plague hit San Francisco, the government built walls around San Francisco Chinatown.”
But as it navigates the 21st century, the hospital faces many of the same challenges as its peers in The City.The chemotherapy therapy room with a view at Chinese Hospital in Chinatown, San Francisco on Tuesday, May 14, 2024. “For every dollar hospitals spend to take care of Medicare patients, you only get back 75 cents,” Zhang said. “For Chinese Hospital, more than 80% of our patients are Medicare patients.”
Peskin said Chinese Hospital’s economic challenges are ones that other hospitals and systems would struggle to overcome. He said Chinese Hospital has been able to survive so far due to its strong community ties. Hospital staff set up testing and vaccination on the street outside of SROs, and they shared educational materials on how to social distance even with several people living in one room or sharing a kitchen and bathroom among multiple families in one building.
Chen said her parents, who immigrated to San Francisco in the late 1970s, have been patients at Chinese Hospital for about as long. Zhang served as the primary care physician for Cheng’s paternal grandfather before she was promoted to CEO. “I’m not the only provider who was born at Chinese Hospital who actually came back to work in the system as well,” she said. “I think part of what brings us back is seeing the experiences that our own family has gone through, and we’re trying to make it easier for other individuals not to have that difficulty.”
“When you hear the name Chinese Hospital, people expect that the only people who come here are Chinese — but it’s not true,” she said. “Everyone, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, anything like that, is welcome.”Narcan nasal spray, which is used to reverse opioid overdoses, is displayed during a 2021 training on its use. The U.S. saw a drop in OD deaths in 2023, but The City hit a record high.
Health-care workers gathered with public-health and community organizations outside the chief medical examiner’s office for a press conference Tuesday to share that there have been 3,026 overdose deaths in The City since January 2020 — more than, a safe-consumption site where patients used drugs under professional supervision, as a move in the wrong direction. They argued that law-enforcement crackdown’s on public drug consumption last year targeted people of color.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Oakland airport officials reaffirm 'San Francisco Bay' name change, countersues San FranciscoOfficials with Oakland International Airport gave final approval to add 'San Francisco Bay' to its name, rebuffing claims of trademark infringement from San Francisco city officials and from SFO.
Read more »
Page A1View the San Francisco for Wednesday, May 15, 2024
Read more »
Page A1View the San Francisco for Sunday, May 12, 2024
Read more »
Page A1View the San Francisco for Thursday, May 9, 2024
Read more »
Page A1View the San Francisco for Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Read more »
Page A1View the San Francisco for Sunday, May 5, 2024
Read more »