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Welcome Asian Health Services
Every day, Vesper Society links arms with leaders in overlooked communities that want to create a healthy future and helps them devise ways to do it. Established in 1974, Asian Health Services (AHS) provides comprehensive health care to low-income Asian immigrant and refugee adults and youth in Alameda County. They provide mental health services in primary care clinics, with the support of mental health therapy and/or case management. Faced with the imminent closure of a decades-old mental health program that served many low-income Asian/Pacific Islander (API) immigrants and refugee youth and adults, the Alameda County Health Care Agency reached out to Asian Health Services in 2016. Committed to serving those with mental health care needs in a culturally and linguistically competent manner, AHS heeded the call, understanding how important it was to continue these specialty mental health services for over 400 patients. With this additional service, AHS broadened its continuum of mental health services to treat low, moderate and severe mental health clients. AHS providers soon faced challenges in treating patients within the framework of their existing program. First, some patients had more urgent needs: their daily functioning level was low, they had difficulty complying with treatment plans, and/or they had negative responses to their prescribed medications. Second, some patients had lessening needs: daily functioning levels had improved, and a primary care center was sufficient to meet their needs. But they didn’t want to stop serving these patient groups – who both needed continued psychiatric medication management and minimal mental health/case management support to sustain a higher level of daily functioning. More importantly, without AHS, the patients were unlikely to receive services that were culturally sensitive and respectful. With support from Vesper Society, AHS was able to set up additional services for these two groups so they can navigate... Read More
Introducing United Indian Health Services Behavioral Health Program
Every day, Vesper Society links arms with leaders in overlooked communities that want to create a healthy future and helps them devise ways to do it. Through partnerships and collaborations, we are better able to leverage resources that have great impacts on the communities we serve. United Indian Health Services (UIHS) in Northwest California has been providing comprehensive healthcare to Native American communities for over 40 years. Dedicated to providing mental, dental, vision, behavioral health, and community wellness services to two counties, UIHS serves more than 10,000 Native American clients. Behavioral health services are particularly beneficial to the Yurok Tribe in the Weitchpec area of the Yurok Reservation in eastern Humboldt County. Prior to 2016, the community had extremely limited and sporadic access to behavioral health services due to the difficulty and costs of staffing in the remote location. After the Yurok Tribe declared a State of Emergency in 2015 in response to a cluster of Native youth suicides, UIHS set out to support the community in a culturally-appropriate and significant way. The Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Agency (SAMHSA) reports that Indigenous communities that work to preserve their cultural heritage and work to control their own destinies are dramatically more successful in protecting their youth against the risks of suicide. This approach of combining culture and healthcare is essential in developing sustainable and impactful changes within this community. After UIHS hired a full-time behavioral health clinician to work in this area, the organization focused on suicide prevention activities and education efforts in the region, and collaborated closely with county and tribal leaders to address the crisis. It was incredibly effective: the community did not experience any suicides for two years. The State of Emergency declaration expires early this year, as does tribal funding for those services,... Read More
Welcome New Board Members!
Vesper Society is happy to link arms with three new leaders who join our board of directors: Adina Safer, Lyell Sakaue, and Cynthia So-Armah. These three share Vesper’s belief in the simple idea that a just society begins when everyone is well and respected as a human being. We look forward to working with them to find long-term solutions that improve the health and well-being of overlooked communities. Adina Safer has spent her career focused on the business and the changing ways healthcare providers are receiving payments. And for over fifteen years, she has worked to increase access and equity in public education. Lyell Sakaue has collaborated with numerous organizations in the social sector to refine their strategies to achieve greater social impact. His work emphasizes creating pathways to improve economic mobility, racial justice efforts, and initiatives to shape public policies. Dr. Cynthia So-Armah is a primary care internist in Massachusetts where she serves a predominantly Dominican immigrant patient population. As a student, she helped to found a nonprofit in the Dominican Republic to create access to quality education for students there. These remarkable individuals reflect our commitment to our values of service, justice, and partnership. With their compassion and expertise on our board, we are one step closer to realizing the potential for healthy communities to thrive and prosper. Learn more about board... Read More
Thank You
Vesper Society believes in a simple idea: a just society begins when everyone is well and respected as a human being. Every day, Vesper Society links arms with leaders of overlooked communities that want to create a healthy future. How does a board of directors do this? Last month, 12 Vesper board members gathered in the San Francisco Bay Area and made the six-hour drive to Humboldt County to meet with community leaders. Over the next three days, the board members connected to a part of the state that many had never visited before. While there, we learned so much from our program partners–United Indian Health Services and Open Door Community Health Center. Leaders from the North Coast Grantmaking Partnership, McLean Foundation, California Center for Rural Policy, and True North generously gave of their time and talent to share their knowledge and life experiences. We were especially struck by the warm welcome we received in Fortuna where each Vesper board member received a personal note from a community member. One person thanked Vesper Society for “seeing humanity in a larger sense,” and “for reaching out to help people in need, and for understanding that caring is much more than just words.” The letter concluded, “It is you and people like you who help all of us have hope for the future of humanity.” We were touched by the sentiment, and we also turn that gratitude to each of you reading this. These bonds of friendship, of sharing together, of being together in our struggles to improve our communities is what sustains us during both the good times and difficult times. During this holiday season, we are grateful for your partnership, for being able to make a difference at the local level, and to count each of you as part of... Read More
Vesper Society Honors 500 Years of Protestant Reformation
500 years ago, Martin Luther’s 95 Theses critiquing the Catholic Church shook the world and resulted in the beginning of Protestant Reformation. As we commemorate this significant event, we also honor and appreciate that we live in vastly different times. Lutheran and Catholic Christians now seek out commonalities that overcome past church-dividing differences, and we are telling this history in new ways. Today, our world is more varied and secular. Vesper Society—with deep roots in the Lutheran tradition—believes in a simple idea: a just society begins when everyone is well and respected as a human being. We mark this time in the Lutheran tradition’s history by asking Rev. Melissa Maxwell-Doherty, Vice President of Mission and Identity at the California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, to reflect on what the Reformation tradition means for those who engage in interfaith cooperation and engagement. I quote Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, presiding bishop of the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) who states in Engaging Others, Knowing Ourselves: A Lutheran Calling in a Multi-Religious World – “We all live and work in an increasingly multi-ethnic, inter-religious context. In our daily encounters with diversity, what are the theological and practical challenges we face? What from our Lutheran tradition is instructive for understanding our inter-religious calling and living out of community?” I believe that Martin Luther’s emphasis on the generosity and grace of God can fuel and inform the way that we live out our relationships with our neighbors, especially our neighbors from religious or philosophical traditions different from our own. I stand aware that all of life comes as a sheer gift from the hand of God. All I have received—human community, planet home, artistic expression, and the necessities and nourishment for daily life—all come from the bounty of God’s blessing given to me without... Read More