Network Director

2021 Region 1-3 (Eastern Regional) Conference

Confronting Racism, COVID, and Health Disparities

DATE: October 9, 2021
TIME: 10:30 AM EST – 4:00 PM EST
LOCATION: Online

Details

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How to Address Vaccine Hesitancy:

COVID-19 Vaccination Toolkit

This document is a compilation of resources that address vaccine hesitancy and access for AANHPI communities, particularly focused on providing linguistically and culturally appropriate information. A study conducted by UCSF this year found that 34% of AAPI respondents were concerned about the vaccine’s side effects, 6% were worried about vaccine safety, and 36% had multiple concerns regarding the vaccine.

Moreover, the barriers faced by AANHPI individuals during COVID is telling of other long-standing challenges the community has faced historically. One such problem is with data disaggregation. Many locales do not even include Asian American as an option for ethnicity in surveys, let alone subdivisions of the vast diversity within the AANHPI community. COVID-19 morbidity and mortality are also not well studied for AANHPI populations. From the sparse data that we do have, we know that many of the disparities in care are masked. For instance, in NYC’s public hospital system, South Asians had the second highest rate of positivity (after Hispanics) and second highest rate of hospitalization (after Blacks), and Chinese patients had the highest mortality of all groups. Despite this, Asian Americans are not listed as a vulnerable population by the National Academy of Sciences Engineering Medicine*. In the absence of disaggregated data, it is difficult to allocate appropriate resources to address problems like vaccine hesitancy and access barriers for the diverse AANHPI groups in the country.

Thus, we hope that this document is able to provide the language and resources for AANHPI medical students to speak to their family, friends, and others in the community to better address the concerns and questions about COVID-19 and the vaccine.

APAMSA offers Community Outreach Grants to chapters that may want to reach out to their local communities. For more information contact the outreach@apamsa.org.

*For more information on how COVID-19 has impacted AANHPI subgroups, please refer here.

Table of Contents

Chinese (Simplified/Traditional):

How to Address Vaccine Hesitancy:

Guide to COVID-19 Vaccine Communication

Chinese (Simplified/Traditional):

CDC Viral Vector Vaccines Infosheet / CDC Viral Vector Vaccines Infosheet

CDC mRNA Vaccines Infosheet / CDC mRNA Vaccines Infosheet

LA County Vaccine FAQ / LA County Vaccine FAQ

CT Official Website COVID-19 Facts / CT Official Website COVID-19 Facts

How did the vaccine get developed so quickly? / How did the vaccine get developed so quickly?

Is the vaccine safe? / Is the vaccine safe?

Pfizer and Moderna Ingredients / Pfizer and Moderna Ingredients

J&J Vaccine / J&J Vaccine

Avoiding Vaccine Scams / Avoiding Vaccine Scams

Vaccine Safety Video / Vaccine Safety Video

Geographic Specific Information:

CA:
- Vaccine Appointments / Vaccine Appointments /
NYC:
- Vaccine Appointments / Vaccine Appointments

Hindi:

Hmong:

Japanese:

Karen:

Khmer:

CDC Viral Vector Vaccines Infosheet

Korean:

CDC mRNA Vaccines Infosheet

Geographic Specific Information:

CA:
- Vaccine Appointments
NYC:
- Vaccine Appointments

Lao:

CDC Viral Vector Vaccines Infosheet

Nepali:

Tagalog:

CDC mRNA Vaccines Infosheet

Geographic Specific Information:

CA: Vaccine Appointments

Tamil:

Telugu:

Thai:

CDC Viral Vector Vaccines Infosheet

Vietnamese:

CDC mRNA Vaccines Infosheet

Geographic Specific Information:

CA: Vaccine Appointments

Leadership and Membership Transition

CHAPTER LEADERSHIP AND MEMBERSHIP UPDATE

Please complete this Google form to update your local chapter leadership! Then, email your respective regional directors at region#@apamsa.org (insert your region number for #), membership@apamsa.org, and database@apamsa.org.

Don’t know your region #? Check out the APAMSA regional map HERE (scroll to the bottom)!
Have Questions? Contact our Database Director (database@apamsa.org).

We are no longer asking local chapters to complete an Excel sheet to update membership. Instead, we will be replacing it with a new membership process.

We highly encourage ALL local chapter officers/members to SIGN UP NOW for our official membership through JoinIt as a paying member! Please join in order to continue receiving exclusive newsletters about national and regional APAMSA events. For more information, including membership benefits and general FAQs, check out our updated website HERE.

To sign up for ONLY general newsletters without membership benefits (non-paying), click HERE.

ABOUT:

APAMSA is a national organization of health professional students and pre-health students committed to addressing the unique health challenges of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, & Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities. With an organized membership system, we are able to support APAMSA, our chapters, and our mission. All membership fees go back to chapter funding and will support scholarships for the communities we serve.

If you have any questions, please email membership@apamsa.org.

Annual Officer Timeline

Congratulations on being elected a chapter officer. Here’s a timeline of events to help guide you through the year. Feel free to adapt it so it meets the needs of your chapter.

Late Spring/Summer Timeline

After being elected, make sure you speak to the old officers and get their old files and advice about how to be a good officer.

1. Submit your Leadership Transition and updated rosters with the new officer contacts. Get the supplies, financial reports, and other contacts from previous officers.

2. Register your new officers with your Student Activities office, if required.

3. Include a welcome letter from APAMSA in the new student’s packet mailer, if your school permits.

4. Subscribe yourself to the chapter officers list serv by submitting the Leadership Transition form.

5. During the summer, prepare your recruitment supplies such as fliers and posters so you can post them when new students arrive.

Early Fall Semester

Everyone’s now back at school and things are moving fast.

1. Plan on recruitment activities

2. Hold your first general meeting.

3. Prepare ahead to attend the national conference.

4. Subscribe yourself to the list serv: www.apamsa.org

5. Register your group with Student Activities office if you haven’t already.

6. Represent your chapter at your Student Activities Fair

Late Fall Semester

National Conference is usually in the Fall

1. Announce if your chapter is going to National Conference this year, and solicit attendees

2. Get the Treasurer to file for Travel Funds with your school

3. Look for sample Fundraising Ideas & Resources.

4. Book your flights, accommodations, and make sure your attendees have registered for the National Conference ahead of time.

5. Submit proposed amendments to the Constitution, Letters of Intent, CV if you want to run for National Positions or change the Constitution.

6. Remember to submit MCCs every month!

At National Conference:

1. Attend the workshops and keynote talks, bond with your chapter, see the sights!

2. Run for National or Regional Office, talk about APIA health, and have FUN!

Late Fall/ Winter

1. Get in contact with your newly elected Regional Directors. Contact membership@apamsa.org for their contact information.

2. Try and hold an observance for Diwali/other APIA cultural holidays.

3. Start planning to participate in the National Hepatitis B campaign and Bone Marrow Drive.

Spring Semester

1. Participate in the National Hepatitis B campaign and Bone marrow drive.

2. Stay tuned for info from your regional directors to participate in regional conferences.

Late Spring

1. Hold elections for new chapter officers and do your best to give them as much information as possible, so that your APAMSA chapter can remain active.

Chapter Fundraising

When asking for or raising money, show your dedication and enthusiasm for APAMSA. You should show sponsors and buyers that you want to make your plans a reality and that you have a well thought out plan for accomplishing those goals. You need to clearly state your reasons for why you think your APAMSA programming is needed at your school and what benefit the organization would bring to your school.

Establish A Budge

Make a list of all tentative events and determine estimated costs each event. Don’t forget to include:

Food
Room booking fee
AV fee
Thank you cards/gifts for speakers

Seeking Grants and Sponsors

Funding Resources at Your School

Don’t be afraid to ask: Most medical schools, both public and private, are happy to support APA medical student organizations. Be sure to emphasize that your events are open to all members of your medical school. Similarly, select events that will appeal to all your classmates.

Start with school offices which usually have money set aside to fund student organizations. They include:

Student Council
Office of Student Affairs
Office of Diversity
Dean’s Office
Alumni Association
Ask a specific academic department related to your event (for example, the Infectious Disease department or Microbiology department for a Hepatitis B education lecture).

Contact them with details of your events, which should include:

Amount of funding requested and cost breakdown
Event descriptions
Dates
Locations
Estimated attendance

You can also find local businesses/organizations to support your chapter and events. Use our Sponsorship Guidance Document for instructions on how to work with Sponsorship Directors to contact businesses and seek funds.

Fundraising Ideas

Fundraising in Your Community

Be creative. Planning a fundraiser in your community can be fun, lucrative, and productive. It gives you an opportunity to explain what APAMSA is about and garner support. Some successful ideas from years past include: Charity dance or dinner, Cash / prize raffles, silent auctions, and more.

Consider selling food or items to raise additional funds. They can be related to Asian holidays (ex. Lunar New Year), Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, etc. Make sure you advertise your event with an eye-catching visual!

School clothing gear: Patagonia sweaters, t-shirts, crewnecks, etc.
Asian-themed snacks: bubble tea, mochi, onigiri, etc.
Multicultural potluck lunch
Bake sale

Finding Partners

It’s always a good idea to co-sponsor events with other student organizations, particularly if you’re just starting an APAMSA chapter. This fosters collaboration and introduces you to the specific requirements for planning an event at your school. Partner with other student organizations who share similar missions and are willing to split the costs. Ideas include:

SNMA, LMSA, AMWA, etc. on talks concerning diversity in medicine
Infectious Disease, Endocrinology, Psychiatry, etc. on talks about hepatitis, diabetes screening (Screen at 23), mental health in Asian communities.
Free Student Clinics if you are considering community health screenings

Other Potential Funding Resources

AMA-Medical Student Section Policy Promotion Grant: Available to medical student groups interested in conducting projects and activities designed to further AMA policy. Grants awarded are $250 per project. For more information and an application, please call 1-800-AMA-3211 Ext. 4742.

Chapter Events

Cultural/Social Events
Health Affairs Events
Professional Development and Mentorship Events
Advocacy and Political Events

APAMSA’s Guide to Diversity, a booklet of events suggestions that spans South Asian events as well as East Asian events.

Below are lists of events that chapters have done in the past. A compilation of past events based on monthly chapter capture submissions can be found below. If you have any questions, feel free to contact your Regional Directors!

Cultural/Social Events

Dumpling Making Socials
Lunar New Year Potlucks
Diwali Celebrations
Holi Festival
Eid al-Fitr Celebrations
Welcome Week Barbeques
Boba and Buns Fundraisers
Potluck Dinner and Movie
Inter-school mixer (other APAMSA chapters as well as APA students in law school, business school, etc.)
Eating out at an Asian Restaurant (for smaller groups)
Night on the Town (for larger groups and schools near cities)
Talent Show: poetry, singing, dancing, comedy
- Sample performances: RWJ 2007; Tulane 2013; WashU 2015 (Choreiform, Tinikling, Mamma Mia, I Got A Boy), Neomed 2016
Alternative Medicine: All Asian ethnic groups have some history of alternative healing practices whether it be acupuncture, aryuvedic, herbalistic, or spiritual. Increasing numbers of non-Asians are interested in this topic as well. A speaker not only can educate APA students about their heritage and history of healing, it can also clarify widely held misconceptions as well. Some schools have also created displays on alternative healing methods (herbs, instruments, healers) in conjunction with the talk.

Health Affairs Events

Bone Marrow Drives: This is a well-established APAMSA project. APA bone marrow registrants are severely underrepresented in the National Bone Marrow registry. Join our national effort to save lives. Contact the APAMSA bone marrow chair for more info, at marrow@apamsa.org
Hepatitis B Screenings – APAMSA’s Fight to Break the Hep B Cycle: Hepatitis B is a devastating illness that affects millions of APAs. Asians have the highest rate of hepatitis B infection of all ethnic groups. One out of 4 people with chronic hepatitis B virus infection who became chronically infected during childhood will die of HBV-related liver cancer or cirrhosis. That’s 100 million of the 400 million chronic HBV infected people in the world. Hepatitis B is a completely preventable disease through vigorous education, screenings, and immunizations. Join us in our quest to break the Hepatitis B Cycle by participating in APAMSA’s Fight in your community! Contact the APAMSA Hepatitis B Chair for more information: hepatitis@apamsa.org
Community Health Fairs: APAMSA health fairs are the trademark event at most of our local chapters. This is where you can utilize your cultural understanding and medical knowledge to offer free cholesterol, diabetes, blood pressure, vision, hearing, and lead screening of the APA community. Some schools also have assisted recent immigrants from Asian countries as well as other uninsured members of the community to find primary care physicians. In addition, health fairs serve as an important mechanism to disseminate health information regarding cancer, smoking, domestic violence, and many more topics through brochures and counseling services, which we are able to offer in multiple different languages. Take an active role in health care access in your community. Location is key so do some research about where you might be able to reach the most people. Contact the APAMSA Community Outreach representatives at outreach@apamsa.org
Local BP/BMI Screenings: Contact the APAMSA Community Outreach representatives at outreach@apamsa.org
Mental Health Discussions: For more information on how you can create an event incorporating this silent issue, contact the APAMSA Mental Health Chair: mentalhealth@apamsa.org
Volunteering w/ the American Cancer Society: For more information, contact the APAMSA Cancer Initiative Director – cancer@apamsa.org
Fundraisers for natural disaster victims: APAMSA chapters have been instrumental in raising money for the Tsunami victims, the Hurricane disasters, the South Asian earthquake victims, orphanages in China, and much more. For more information, contact APAMSA’s Global Health Director at globalhealth@apamsa.org
Volunteering at your local hospital: doesn’t have to be fancy – play a board game, play some cards, read a book to kids. This is a great idea for those who don’t have a lot of time to commit.

Professional Development and Mentorship Events

Medical Mandarin Courses
Teaching High School Students
Big Sib: 2nd years mentoring 1st years, 1st years mentoring premeds, premeds mentoring high schoolers
APA Faculty Student Dinners
Diversity/AAPI in Medicine Talks: There are innumerable topics that can be addressed including hepatitis B, mental health, domestic violence, etc. within the Asian American community. Speakers can be local resources or from neighboring cities. Often these events can be cosponsored with other groups to ease the cost of funding.
Organize a mock exam: Be a resource to your classmates with old exam questions, review books, texts, etc. or by serving as standardized patients for others to practice interviewing, physical diagnosis, etc.
Student Panels – Boards and Wards: Pivotal transitions occur at the end of 2nd year when students begin to think about the national boards and adjusting to life in the hospital. Upper-class students, especially fourth years who have gone through the process including matching are invaluable resources. Invite the upper-class students to your meetings to share their experiences.
Organize a Conference: This is an ambitious project that can supplement your medical school’s training of future physicians. APAMSA conferences are some of the most effective mechanisms to bring together medical students, physicians, and health care professionals to learn about issues APA health. This is an opportunity to really enhance your school’s curriculum and further APAMSA’s mission statement. Contact membership@apamsa.org if your chapter is interested in hosting an APAMSA conference. It is important to bid early for hosting the national or regional conferences.

Advocacy and Political Events

Submit Resolutions to National APAMSA
Host Discussions on Advocacy in Medicine
AAPI Culture Fairs
Voter Registration Drives: There are numerous ways to obtain registration forms: volunteer services in the hospital, undergraduate political parties and local elections office (in the phone book).
Immigration Forums: Not since 1965 have there been such dramatic legislative change in the arena of immigration. Ranging from restrictions on social services to immigrants to financial aid for non-citizen students, these bills will have a significant impact on the US. These forums can be informative only or can serve as the basis for a debate on the issues immigration reform raises, especially the role of the physician-to-be in serving as the “gate-keeper” to access to health care.
Affirmative Action Forums: Perhaps no other issue divides APA medical students as much as affirmative action. For many years, APA students in all forums of higher education have felt a quota or glass ceiling placed on their admissions, especially in medicine. Some schools have successfully gathered information on admissions or have engaged their deans/directors of admissions on this issue. This forum can be an opportunity to present some of the data to the community and to raise some important issues such as admissions stereotypes of the APA applicant. It can also serve as a springboard for a broader discussion of Affirmative Action. (This can be a particularly divisive issue)
Discrimination in Academic Medicine: As more and more APA medical students become interested in academic medicine as a career, the overt and subtle barriers to tenure are apparent. A panel of faculty members at various stages of the tenure track progress and in different fields (clinical vs. basic science) can address this issue.

Monthly Chapter Capture

MCCs detail your chapter’s activity for each month that’s due the 3rd of every following month and can be submitted HERE

This is a form REQUIRED for a chapter to maintain active status. Reactivation fees may be necessary after missing >3 captures, however you may back submit MCCs at any time. MCC submissions are also used to select events to feature on the APAMSA newsletter, and we also use them to select Chapter Awards at the yearly APAMSA National Conference.
Activity includes chapter meetings, fundraising events, volunteer events, etc. If you have no activity/events, the form is still to be submitted (most of the sections will be empty). A late submission is better than no submission!

MCC Tips

Include photos/videos with your events if you can!
See below for Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ).

MCC FAQ

What is the Monthly Chapter Capture?
- A chance to request support from national/regional board, to share exciting news/events from your chapter and to give feedback!
Where can I access the form?
- CLICK HERE
Issues with emails?
- Update your roster by emailing database@apamsa.org. For other support, email membership@apamsa.org
What is this used for?
- Chapter awards, allocation of resources/support, sponsorship, project ideas, social media, and more!
How long will this take?
- < 10 min. if you have events/news to share with us and/or if you have support to request! < 3 min. if you have neither.
Should I submit if I don’t have anything new to share?
- Yes! We want to make sure that we haven’t lost communication. In this case, the capture takes < 3 mins!
What happens after?
- A pdf of your responses will be sent to you and the national and regional board.
- Your regional director will contact you for any requested support. Please email them or the national membership director for any issues.
- Your event may be selected to be featured, so stay tuned to APAMSA emails, social media, and website!

Get to Know Us

Get to know us more through these amazing videos!

Join (and ask your members to join) your Region’s FB to get connected to other APAMSA members! You can also check out what other Regions are doing via their groups.

Advocacy in Medical School

DATE: September 28, 2021
TIME: 5:00 PM-6:00 PM PST/ 8:00 PM-9:00 PM ET
LOCATION: Online. Free.
REGISTER: https://bit.ly/apamsa928

Details

Interested in advocacy but not sure where to start?

Join the APAMSA Advocacy Branch for a panel of student advocates who will introduce their work, how they got involved, and how you can get plugged in to be part of the change for our communities!

Contact Us

Questions? Email membership@apamsa.org!

SUPPORT APAMSA

Join us in advocacy

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