More information can be found at www.surgeongeneral.gov

Suicide Prevention

Prevention doesn't just end by healing the body - we also need to prevent and treat wounds of the mind and spirit.

Asian American women have the highest suicide rate of all women over age 65 in the United States.

Death from suicide is a terrible, tragic death - and leaves survivors with the pain of the always-lingering question "What could I have done differently?"

The Surgeon General's 1999 Report on Mental Health noted that Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders have extremely low utilization of mental health services, with only about 17% of people experiencing problems actually getting the care they need.

To change this, we must offer people more assurance that the stigma of receiving mental health help has passed and that society accepts the benefits that mental health professionals can provide.

Eliminating Health Disparities

Mental health is one of the many health disparities that affect Asian and Pacific Islanders.

Eliminating these disparities is another public health priority of the Office of the Surgeon General.

It is unacceptable that in our great nation, with our global leadership in science and medicine, we still have major disparities in health and health care delivery.

All Americans - regardless of their race, heritage, age, or gender - should have access to good health information and health services.

The H-H-S Office of Minority Health is the federal focal point for improving the health of racial and ethnic minorities and eliminating health disparities through policy and program development.

The development of partnerships between H-H-S and the A-P-I community is very important to H-H-S as I know that partnership is very important to many of you.

One important outcome of these partnerships is to help reduce, and ultimately eliminate, health disparities.

One such successful partnership is the Health Disparities Collaborative. Two-thirds of the H-H-S Health Resources and Services Administration-funded community health centers are part of the collaborative.

The mutual partnership with the Institute for Health Care Improvement is a multi-year health initiative.

The Collaboratives develop, test, and implement evidence-based models of care to improve health outcomes for underserved populations.

It focuses on asthma, cancer, depression, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease.

Some 64 percent of persons served by the health centers are from racial or ethnic minority communities.

Health Literacy

One of the tremendous benefits of our nation's community heath center system is their commitment to provide care in a culturally competent, health literate manner.

Health literacy - or its converse health illiteracy - can have a tremendous impact on our minority communities.

Health literacy is the ability of an individual to access, understand, and use health-related information and services to make appropriate health decisions.

More than 90 million people cannot adequately understand basic health information.

The Institute of Medicine's 2004 report, "Health Literacy: A Prescription to End Confusion," found that nearly half of all adults in this country have difficulty understanding and using health information.

The Report also found that there is a higher rate of hospitalization and use of emergency services among patients with limited health literacy.

Working within your communities, I urge you all to remember the importance of being able to translate complicated health information into easy-to-understand information - information that is communicated clearly, accurately, and effectively.

We all have a responsibility to ensure that we translate health information that can be heard… understood… embraced… and ultimately put into action - by all people.

Emergency Preparedness

Our ability to communicate effectively will be particularly crucial when preparing our nation for an emergency.

And that brings me to another important component of our prevention efforts: Public Health Emergency Preparedness.

The terrorist attacks of 9/11, the anthrax attacks that started on 10/15, hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the new threats of pandemic flu have firmly planted emergency preparedness on our nation's health agenda.

Disaster takes many forms - a hurricane, an earthquake, a tornado, a flood, a fire, a pandemic flu, or a hazardous spill … an act of nature or an act of terrorism.

We know that we cannot always prevent emergency situations…. but we can be prepared for them.

Our goal is to be able to prevent as often as possible, and when we cannot prevent - as is often the case with a natural disaster - we must mitigate, respond to, and then recover from emergencies, so that health, education, commerce, and all aspects of life can normalize as soon as possible. We now understand that emergency preparedness can help prevent all-hazards emergency situations from becoming large-scale disasters, and can also help us limit the resulting negative health consequences.

Preparedness involves planning by every level of government, every school, every business, every civic organization, every community - and we at the Federal level count on you to help in these preparedness efforts.

For example, during a time of crisis, we must encourage government and community members to communicate critical health messages to our Asian Pacific American populations in a culturally and linguistically appropriate way.

After 9/11 and 10/15, I was part of the conversations about varying ways we could have been - and needed to be - better prepared.

It was during those discussions that we first considered the idea of a civilian volunteer Medical Reserve Corps.

No one seemed eager to take on the challenge of creating, growing, and overseeing an M-R-C, but the Office of the Surgeon General stepped forward, and picked up the gauntlet.

We foresaw the benefits that would come from a network of volunteers from their communities, ensuring the health and safety of their communities.

I am extremely proud to lead the M-R-C, as powerful partners with the Surgeon General.

We now have a little more than 660 M-R-C units throughout the United States and its territories….some long established and funded, some just beginning their training.

I'm grateful to the health, medical, and administrative volunteers who have stepped up to form and lead these units.

They are very important to the local health and safety.

Closing and Charge

In closing, I want to thank you for promoting A-P-A participation in government and for bringing A-P-A issues to the forefront.

Your attendance here is evidence of your passion.

And I'd like to review a few of the things that I hope you take back with you that, I believe, can help lead to a healthier native community and healthier nation.

First, do all you can to promote prevention.

Encourage your family, your friends, your neighbors, your coworkers - actually anyone who will listen - to engage in healthy habits. …..Habits like healthy eating, minimizing alcohol consumption, daily physical activity, and not smoking.

Second, work to make sure health messages are understandable to the populations you know best.

You are closest to the health needs of your communities. Washington has good information - but we're not always good at messaging.

That's where you come in. You understand the needs and personalities of your communities. Please continue to help us.

Third, get involved in emergency preparedness efforts.

There isn't much glamour and it's a lot of hard work and hopefully the time and effort will never have to be used. But in the event that it is needed, your community will be better served.

And finally, use your role as a leader in the community to be a mentor.

We have a duty to encourage our next generation to reach great heights.

Believe me, growing up in Honolulu, I never would've imagined that I would be here today - proudly wearing the uniform of a Public Health Service admiral, talking with you as the acting Surgeon General, and with my very own entry on Wikipedia. (smile)

But I'm here, in large part to the influence of my parents, and school teachers, and community leaders who took an interest in my success.

Many people who didn't need to care - did care. And that made all the difference.

As Asian Pacific Americans, the concept of family has a very special and very important meaning in our cultures. We care for our families, for our extended families -- as our past, our present, and our future. Let us apply this attention and commitment to our families, and to our larger family, our great Nation, so we may all be healthy, happy, and secure.

Again, thank you for your time. Thank you for your work. And thank you for your commitment to improving the lives and well being of Asian Pacific Americans.

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Last revised: September 28, 2007