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East West Bank branches to hold health screenings

by Rodney Tanaka

May 23, 2008

Read 2 mins

    View Mini Health Fair 2008 schedule    

East West Bank will hold a series of health screenings throughout the summer at 30 branches with assistance from several partners, including Western University of Health Sciences.

From May 28 to July 12, East West Bank locations throughout Southern California and select Northern California branches will hold health fairs with glucose screenings, blood pressure checks, hepatitis B tests and vision services. The types of screenings available vary depending on the date and location.

A joint news conference to announce the program, Mini Health Fair 2008, was held at WesternU’s Pomona campus Thursday, May 22, in the university’s new Banfield Veterinary Clinical Center.

The health fairs will be open to everyone, not just East West customers, said Emily Wang, senior vice president of East West Bank.

“Though we’re a bank, we always want to be part of the community,” she said. “Health is a hot topic that affects everyone.”

Partners include WesternU, Alhambra Hospital Medical Center, Gilead Sciences, Golden Vision, Kaiser Permanente, Pacific IPA, Tawa 99 Ranch Market and UnitedHealthcare.

WesternU students and faculty will provide information about Medicare Part D prescription drug plans and administer blood glucose and blood pressure tests. Where scheduled, the College of Veterinary Medicine’s Veterinary Ambulatory Community Service mobile clinic will provide diagnostic exams for companion animals.

“As a university that educates health care providers in multiple disciplines, we are honored to participate in the provision of health screenings to the Asian community,” said Shirley Johnston, DVM, PhD, WesternU vice president of University Advancement.

The screenings will help raise awareness of health issues that sometimes go unnoticed in the Asian American community. More than 20 million Americans are affected by diabetes, and a 2004 study found that the prevalence of diabetes is 60 percent higher in Asian Americans than in Caucasians, said William Yu, national project manager of Asian American markets for UnitedHealthcare.

Diabetes is the fifth-leading cause of death among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders between the ages of 45 and 64, yet many Asian Americans are unaware of the seriousness of the disease, he said.

Very few people in Asian American communities talk about diseases, and it is not widely publicized, Yu said.

“The first step is to talk about it so people are aware of the problem in the Asian American community,” he said.

For more information about the Mini Health Fair 2008, call 888-468-6392.

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