Chaiwon Kim, CEO, Center for Pan Asian Community Services

The Partner Up! for Public Health Campaign and the Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) has announced their newest Public Health Hero: a first generation Korean immigrant who, in two decades, led the transformation of a modest Korean social services call center into an organization that provides health and social services to more than 2,600 Asian immigrants each month.

Chaiwon Kim was selected for her 22 years of leadership in building the Center for Pan Asian Community Services (CPACS), which serves Asian-American and Asian immigrants throughout the southeast. Kim serves as the organization's chief executive officer.  

The joint DPH/Partner Up! for Public Health program is aimed at recognizing organizations and individuals throughout Georgia who make important contributions to the health of their communities.  
"Chaiwon Kim is emblematic of the kind of individual we had in mind when we conceived the idea for the Partner Up! for Public Health Heroes program," said Charles Hayslett, the program's spokesperson.  "She not only recognized the need to provide health and other services to a growing community in Atlanta and beyond, but she had the leadership and organizational skills needed to develop a sustained response to those needs. And she and her team have been making a real difference for a long time.  The Partner Up! campaign and the Department of Public Health are pleased to recognize her for her hard work and many contributions, and we hope her efforts inspire others."

Kim has served as the CEO of CPACS since 1990. The organization serves the entire spectrum of Asian immigrants and citizens through a variety of services including health and social services for youth, families and seniors. The staff of CPACS speaks 11 different languages.

Kim began her career as a CPACS volunteer in the 1980s, taking time off from her business to answer the phones in the basement of a Korean church. As she began answering the questions of Korean immigrants calling for help accessing basic social services, Kim's eyes were opened to the great need among Asian immigrants for assistance in a new and foreign social system.  

"Before I started volunteering at CPACS, I thought all Asian immigrants spoke English well and were able to integrate into American society easily." Kim told Partner Up. "However, I only knew the top 5 or 10 percent of Asian immigrants. I didn't know everybody needed help and most had a hard time."

Although a thriving business owner at the time, Kim's background was in nursing. She worked as a registered nurse at Crawford Long Hospital, now Emory Midtown Hospital, for seven years before opening her own business. While volunteering at CPACS, Kim began using her nursing skills to provide blood pressure screening and act as a translator during hospital visits. Kim also knew several doctors in the Atlanta area who gave her advice for CPACS patients free of charge. Soon she began offering more preventive services including screening and education for HIV, Hepatitis B and STDs. Health services at CPACS continued to grow.  
Soon Kim realized the center was a necessary service for the Asian population and that it required expansion in order to fully meet the community's needs. She began looking at other centers around the country offering similar services to Asians as well as other ethnic and immigrant populations. After securing several grants, Kim had enough funds to hire her first staff member, a social worker. A choice she made, she says, because, "Asians don't know the system, and therefore, they don't have access."

By 1997, CPACS was serving far more than just Korean immigrants. Today, it serves not only immigrants but also second and third generation Asians from a multitude of countries, including China, Vietnam, Bhutan, Somalia and Burma. Kim herself is a first generation Korean immigrant, coming to the United States as an exchange student when she was 23 years old.

Although CPACS offers comprehensive social services, the extraordinary health services established by Kim are what earn her the award of Public Health Hero. The most impactful program at the center is the Asian Breast Cancer Program (ABC). CPACS partners with three local hospitals to bring mobile mammogram screening units to Asian communities across the Southeast. This program eliminates language, cultural and financial barriers. Through ABC, nearly 500 women receive their first mammogram each year and those who need follow up care are connected to the appropriate services.

Another successful program Kim pioneered at CPACS is the Community Health Navigator Program. Navigators are trained by CPACS to assist those in the community who have been diagnosed with cancer. This can be a frightening time for a patient, and with added language and cultural barriers, possibly overwhelming. The 11 navigators are of a variety of nationalities and speak several different languages. CPACS began by advertising this service in ethnic newspapers and now the navigators have become respected and relatively well-known leaders among the various Asian communities.

Other health services include two free health clinics, a mental health clinic, addiction counseling, vaccination for children, smoking cessation, HIV counseling and cancer support groups. CPACS also works closely with other community organizations and government agencies to ensure their clients receive truly comprehensive care.

"All the work we've done, it's not by myself. CPACS has a good staff; they are eager to work, proud of their community and want to give back. Because of these community-minded people, we are here today. I just support their ideas, dreams and visions."

Under the outstanding leadership of Kim, CPACS has grown from a volunteer-operated organization to a regional service provider. Like many immigrants, most of the clients CPACS serves are uninsured.  Furthermore, most are working full-time jobs. In the Korean-American population, for example, 65 percent do not have health insurance despite their employment status. Thanks to Kim, CPACS fills a vital role in the Asian community.  

To learn more about Chaiwon Kim and the other 2012 Partner Up! for Public Health Heroes, or for additional information on the Partner Up! for Public Health campaign, visit www.togetherwecandobetter.com.

-Story by Katie Mooney, Partner Up! for Public Health