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Continued from Page 2
Courtesy
of Bergen County Department of Health
Services, N.J.
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| Elizabeth
Burton, RN, (left) program coordinator for cancer
education and early detection at the Bergen County
Department of Health Services in New Jersey, and
Deborah Hamlin-Aggrey, health educator, present
Sang Su Park with a certificate recognizing him
as Outreach Worker of the Year. Park served as a
guest speaker for the CEED coalition on conducting
successful outreach strategies within the Korean
community. |
Japanese-American women now have nearly the same breast
cancer risk as Caucasian women, according to studies
from the Northern California Cancer Center.
Because a Western diet is thought to contribute to
breast cancer, one of the things Masterson focuses on
is nutrition.
"Although they eat the rice and the fish and things,
they don't have a whole lot of fiber, so we try to increase
the fiber in their diet," she said. She encourages
patients to eat whole-grain breads and to eat less soy
sauce to reduce sodium.
The San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle have developed
programs like those Masterson, Nguyen and Lai work for,
partially because the Asian-American population has
been substantial there for decades.
But others have had to come up to speed more quickly.
In Bergen County, N.J., for example, Burton said the
Asian-American population has doubled in the last 10
years.
Because of the large Asian population, Burton applied
and was accepted for a cultural competency training
program run by the National Asian Women's Health Organization.
One of the first things the organization told her was
that the idea that Asians are a model minority is a
myth.
"There's a perception that they're a healthy group:
they're thin, they eat vegetables, their kids go to
Ivy League colleges," Burton said.
But besides increasing rates of breast cancer, Asian
Americans have other health problems. For example, Vietnamese-American
women have five times the cervical cancer rate of Caucasian
women, according to the Northern California Cancer Center.
The women tend to come in with more advanced forms of
the disease with no prior Pap tests, according to the
center.
Burton, who knows the importance of the Pap tests,
mammograms and colorectal screenings, said she has found
that although Asian Americans of different ethnicities
vary dramatically, "a lot of the cultures value
a group decision or group harmony over an individual
decision."
Some, especially recent immigrants, stigmatize certain
health conditions, like yeast infections.
"There are certain stigmas to these things, like
'Oh, maybe she's been fooling around,' whereas a yeast
infection can happen to anyone," she said.
Burton and the county health department have identified
other obstacles to patients coming to appointments,
like a lack of transportation or lack of understanding
of the system, and worked to solve them. When patients
are given test results, the department uses three-way
calling with a translator, the nurse and the patient,
which allows patients to ask questions.
To encourage more Asians to come for testing, the department
has chosen as interpreters leaders from the local Korean-American
community, including one breast cancer survivor.
"We want people to come in every year, proactively,"
Burton said. "I think once they've come and they've
had a good experience, they'll tell other people. We
may not be perfect in our efforts, but I think they
know we have a sincere heart and we try."
Contact Jessica M. Scully at Jessicam_scully@yahoo.com
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