Vietnamese Community Health at UCLA

In 2006, Vietnamese Community Health (VCH) was founded by five UCLA students with the words, Sức khỏe là vàng (Health is gold), in mind. Like its founders, those who are a part of VCH aim to improve the health and overall well being of the underserved communities in Orange County (O.C.) and strive to solve the health disparities faced by these communities. Many Vietnamese and Spanish speaking populations lack health care access and insurance due to financial, language, and cultural barriers. Thus, it is essential that VCH alleviates some of these barriers and works hard to show that we empathize with and understand our patients and their needs. At our biweekly health sites, we conduct free hypertension and BMI screenings, as the Vietnamese community exhibits high rates of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. We help educate the Vietnamese population in Orange County about important health issues and provide critical screenings that help promote early detection and decrease rates of disease in the community. Likewise, our quarterly Health Fairs bring together physicians, dentists, pharmacists, optometrists, and many other health providers in order to conduct free consultations and more comprehensive health screenings. Our volunteers guide patients, measure blood pressure and BMI, and most importantly, serve as translators for our patients. Recently, VCH has also reached out to younger children and the Hispanic community in hopes of developing a health program that not only extends to everyone who has a need, but also targets lifestyle changes for all. We seek to foster a culturally-sensitive health program that extends across all generations of our target population, old and young. VCH constantly strives to give our service recipients the tools for a healthier life - tools otherwise too expensive or inaccessible. We truly believe that one's health is the greatest wealth.