Caring for Communities during COVID-19 (2020)

Originally shared April 2020

Rather than suggesting that our communities are caring for each other to “prove our American-ness”, we know that our people have and continue to support each other to survive and thrive. This crisis is highlighting what we’ve already known: working-class, immigrant communities are the backbone of our societies. Our elders, aunties, children, chosen family members, and community leaders nurture us when our government and system fail to do so. In a society that preaches “every person for themself”, our people continue to share and look out for each other. #WeKeepUsSafe.

By sharing these stories of interdependence and solidarity, we can get through this crisis and come out stronger by celebrating our #AAPIsAgainstCOVID leaders.

California Healthy Nail Salon leaders by Mike Lok

It is empowering to see our nail salon leaders come together to help the community and show that civic engagement is more than just voting alone.

“Over fifteen years ago, Asian Health Services founded the CA Healthy Nail Salon Collaborative which has grown into a statewide coalition of over 20 organizations dedicated to making the nail salon industry healthier and safety for workers and consumers alike. The Collaborative has conducted targeted trainings and leadership development with Vietnamese nail salon workers and owners, some of whom are AHS patients, and teaches them about workplace safety, environmental justice and what it means to be a civic leader. The Collaborative has conducted Integrated Voter Engagement for five years and has recruited its worker and owner members to do targeted IVE work to Vietnamese communities in the Bay Area through door knocking and phonebanking about reminding them to vote and getting their support on key health and safety initiatives.

In this Coronavirus crisis, the Collaborative has mobilized its staff to do more than just outreach and education, including helping salon workers complete applications for Unemployment Insurance and Medi-Cal. To respond to the personal protective equipment (PPE) shortages during this Coronavirus crisis, the Collaborative staff team launched an initiative to request donations or purchase their PPE so that they could be directed to local hospitals and clinics like AHS. Some of our worker members including former Collaborative Worker Steering Committee Member Hue Nguyen rallied a supply of gloves that they donated to UCSF Children’s Hospital in Oakland.

Anna Bui is the owner of Diva Nails in Oakland down the street from AHS clinics. She has been involved with the Collaborative for 10 years, and her salon was one of the first to enroll in the Alameda County Healthy Nail Salon Recognition Program of which AHS and the Collaborative was instrumental and advocating for. Through her time with the Collaborative, she has built the confidence to speak her story to the media and testify in government hearings. In recent years Anna entrusted the Collaborative with her daughter Alice and nephew Khoa to intern on the Collaborative’s IVE program. Anna and Alice donated four large boxes (totaling in 4,000 nitrile gloves) and 100 procedure masks with built-in carbon air filters. Anna is reaching out to other salon owners to convince them to donate, and is mobilizing her friends and family to sew masks for the community.

We have also been approached by our worker leader Hue Nguyen. Hue has also been with the Collaborative for 10 years and has represented the Vietnamese and nail salon communities’ needs by serving on the Collaborative’s Steering Committee. Hue is a breast cancer survivor, she has shared her personal story in government hearings and in front of national media outlets to speak up her community. Hue has worked with nail salon workers and owners that she is friendly with to secure 10,000 gloves for Asian Health Services and over 60,000 gloves for University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Benioff’s Children’s Hospital.

It is empowering to see our nail salon leaders come together to help the community and show that civic engagement is more than just voting alone. If any salons were interested to donate their salons, donations will be tax deductible. The Collaborative also has some funding able to purchase equipment at pre-crisis market rates:

• N95 (pack of 10): $20
• Procedure masks (packs of 50): $15
• Nitrile gloves (pack of 100): $15

Due to public health concerns raised by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), hospitals and clinics do not accept opened packs of equipment. The Collaborative is in the process of creating an Emergency Response Fund to nail salon workers facing challenges by not being able to work, details and funds are still being organized and determined by how much is raised.”

Van Hyunh, on sewing masks

I’m not a superhero. I’m not doing charity work, I’m just doing human work.

“Who would imagine that we’d be short on masks? I wasn’t aware of the need until I saw on facebook from a really good friend from API Rise, Kristina Wong, posted about needing help sewing and her group AUNTIE SEWING SQUAD (folx sewing masks to protect against Covid-19). She’s a comedian so I didn’t know whether to take her seriously. What popped out in my mind is — hey I know how to sew. People are so surprised that I know how to sew. My parents sewed clothes for their income. Back in the day, everyone I knew sewed, Vietnamese and Asians. Out of 10 families that we knew, maybe 8 of them sewed. We used to get the clothes and sew it at home. My mom would tell me to sew something simple like a line and I would do it hundreds of times.

As a teen, I made poor choices and ended up in prison. I never want to say that I fell in with the wrong crowd because I don’t want to blame anyone else. These are my choices. But I do understand that there are factors in our life that motivate us to do one thing or another. I came out of prison only because very kind people gave me the opportunity and thought I should get a second chance as a juvenile offender to experience life. They worked tirelessly to pass SB260 to give me that opportunity. I benefited from other people’s kindness. It was a confusing time for me so it’s a blessing that I have more time now. I can’t waste it by not using it. I want people to know that we all come from different backgrounds — we’re all searching for the same things. I don’t have the answer, I just know that if we can do something to help, then we should. For years, I unwittingly passed on hate and the cycle of violence. Now I have the clarity and the wisdom to get what I need in life — safety, security, belonging. I have the wisdom now to get these things in a healthy productive way that doesn’t hurt people. I’m not a superhero. I’m not doing charity work, I’m just doing human work.”

Stella Ng, Registered nurse on distributing masks

I have faith we can trust always in the great collective power of a caring community.

“I am a registered nurse at a hospital and I’ve worked 8 years in Oakland, California. Even before the COVID 19 pandemic, we were always short staff, and now we are short supplies. I just went to a training and everything we learned in school and at work they told us does not apply. We were told during this crisis we can reuse masks and maybe gowns to conserve supplies. I checked in with multiple nurses working at different hospitals and on different units. Supplies are being rationed and conserved everywhere. Many nurses are making their own personal protective equipment. They sew masks and added filters in them. They make face shields and some even wear garbage bags as gowns.

Nurses enter this profession with a desire to serve and help. But how can we help if we can not be supplied with the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE)? If the hospital can’t guarantee us some measure of protection, how do we even protect patients and our loved ones? This week, I joined the “Masks for Life” fundraiser to acquire and distribute masks for my peers and other hospital workers who make it possible for hospitals to keep running. I’ve raised $550 so far and distributed some donated masks. Our government and president have not responded to requests for more supplies. I will continue to get supplies for the coming months as we face this pandemic. Nurses must look out for each other. I have faith we can trust always in the great collective power of a caring community.”

Quang, Registered Nurse on serving COVID-19 patients

There’s no question in my mind about being in the front line. If I come to work tomorrow and 5 covid patients come in, I will do it.

Quang is a nurse at a Southern California hospital that serves many Asian American patients. When the request came from the hospital to train staff to serve COVID-19 patients, Quang was one of the first to volunteer, and has been working in the ER and the ward for COVID-19 patients since. “This is what I came here to do,” he says. “I’m really blessed, I’m helping people every day.”

He experienced first hand the struggles that immigrants face in getting good healthcare. Quang was ten years old and less than a year from migrating from Vietnam when he was hospitalized for a month due to appendicitis. Without health insurance, lacking family support while his father worked every day, all while at a hospital without Vietnamese interpreters, Quang had great difficulty in getting his basic needs met. “This sparked something in me, to want to become a nurse and advocate for people who couldn’t speak English.” The most difficult part of all this is being separated from his family for a month already, and what could be many more weeks. Quang’s wife is a nurse too, and they are physically distancing from the rest of his family to protect them. His elderly parents watch his 3 kids, which include a 14-month old baby. “We had to make hard choices, about being away from kids. We’re doing whatever is necessary to support the community and the people who are in the most dire need. There’s no question in my mind about being in the front line. If I come to work tomorrow and 5 covid patients come in, I will do it.”

According to Quang, the need for personal protective equipment (PPE) is dire. He estimates that in a single shift in the COVID ward, a nurse uses 100 pieces of PPE. In two days, his hospital will use 7,000 N95 masks. “If there’s something we can all do, it’s hand washing and being aware of what your hands are doing. Social distancing is really helping. People’s lives are upended, but we have to commit. To be effective, you have to social distance for at least 5 weeks. And the best thing right now that people can do to support nursing staff and hospitals, is staying away from the hospital if you don’t need to go there.”