Group reaches out to ease quiet suffering

After sending medical assistance to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Sri Lanka after the tsunami, Burma after its flooding, and China after its earthquake, the Tzu Chi Foundation has found another place to help: Quincy.

The Taiwan-based group, in partnership with local medical service providers, will hold a daylong health fair at North Quincy High School this Saturday to help medically underserved residents in this diverse area.

Many of the group's clinicians, who are donating their time, speak Chinese dialects, but organizers emphasize that the fair is open to anyone who needs it. The Quincy partners are hoping that some of the region's "hard to reach" residents will give local health providers such as Quincy Medical Center and Manet Community Health Center the opportunity to connect them to ongoing healthcare.

Translators who speak Vietnamese, Portuguese, and Arabic, in addition to Chinese, will be on hand.

The health fair will benefit Quincy, said John Brothers, director of Quincy Asian Resources Inc., but "not because we feel a huge lack of health services in Quincy. It's an opportunity with a group that has a focus on the Chinese community to bring substantial medical services."

Local healthcare providers say the fair extends their own outreach efforts to people who aren't connected to doctors or health providers. "The key is to get them hooked into the system," said Janice Sullivan, director of marketing for Quincy Medical Center, the city's hospital.

In a city whose newcomer population is growing - Sullivan said the Asian population is "exploding" - some residents have not acquired insurance, some people who have insurance don't seek care for a number of reasons, including cultural ones, and some immigrants find it difficult to walk into a clinic or hospital under any circumstances.

It's important that undocumented immigrants, regardless of questions over their status, receive medical services, Brothers said. Money is a significant factor, too, especially for recent immigrants in low-paying jobs. The fair is free to both preregistered and walk-in clients, and participating groups are emphasizing the availability of counseling to help residents find healthcare plans that will serve them.

According to US Census estimates, about 19.5 percent of Quincy's 86,627 people are Asian. The city's school population, a good indicator of growth trends, is 30 percent Asian, according to the state Department of Education.

"We do a benefits assessment," said Cynthia Sierra, Manet's director of development. "We're confident that financial counselors will find a plan that will work for them."

Manet's community clinics are "a soft place to land" for people new to America, Sierra said. The health center's mission is to serve lower- and moderate-income clients, and some 14,000 people sought its services last year for a total of 50,000 visits in the agency's five neighborhood clinics, four in Quincy. The fifth clinic, in Hull, served 14.8 percent of that town's residents.

Aware of the city's Asian residents and growing Arabic population, Manet wants to serve them as well as the rest of the city, Sierra said. Local providers place the largest local Brazilian (Portuguese-speaking) population in neighboring Weymouth. Quincy's Arabic-speaking population includes residents from Iraq, Sierra said, and Manet has an Iraqi outreach worker.

"This is a big event," said Stone Chen, the administrator who will be in charge of the Boston chapter of Tzu Chi's first South Shore health fair and is expecting 300 to 500 clients.

In addition to the 30 medical professionals planning to donate their time to the Quincy fair, Chen said his organization has recruited another 100 volunteers to help with translation and other administrative duties. Some clients, more accustomed to Asian medicine than Western practices, may find it easier to discuss issues with providers from a similar background.

The health fair will run 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at North Quincy High School, 316 Hancock St. Services will include tests for tuberculosis and diabetes, flu shots, and dental health checks. Some services - flu vaccinations, kidney evaluation, the TB skin test, and cholesterol screening - require preregistration by calling 617-472-2200. Walk-ins are asked to arrive before 1:30 p.m.

Robert Knox can be contacted at rc.knox@gmail.com.