NYC Care and Asian American Federation Partner on Video Series to Enhance Program Engagement
Jul 12, 2023
From left: Jo-Ann Yoo, Executive Director of Asian American Federation, Jonathan Jiménez, Executive Director of NYC Care, and Mohammad Razvi, CEO of Council of Peoples Organization, pose with enlarged NYC Care sample membership cards.
New York, NY
NYC Health + Hospitals’ NYC Care health care access program today released the ‘Doctor Public Service Announcement’ video series, completed in partnership with Asian American Federation (AAF). The videos feature NYC Health + Hospitals physicians speaking directly to New Yorkers to encourage enrollment, renewals, and primary care appointments to continue driving strong program engagement. The series features NYC Care Executive Director and family physician Jonathan Jiménez, MD, MPH, from NYC Health + Hospitals/Gotham Health, Cumberland, Michelle V. Soto, MD, from NYC Health + Hospitals/South Brooklyn Health, Huajun Huang, MD, and Khaleda K. Islam, MD, who are both from NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst. The series acknowledges the role of physicians as trusted community messengers, many of whom have experienced barriers to health care access faced by everyday New Yorkers. The videos were recorded in English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Bengali, along with subtitling in 13 languages. The videos will be featured in a citywide marketing campaign, shared on social media, and sent directly to NYC Care members.
“With the release of the ‘Doctor Public Service Announcement’ video series, we hope to encourage more New Yorkers to access the critical primary and preventative care services they are entitled to from NYC Health + Hospitals’ NYC Care program. The videos are available in 13 languages and feature physicians such as myself who have seen first-hand the transformative impact that access to care can have on a person, and their community as a whole,” said NYC Care Executive Director Jonathan Jiménez, MD, MPH. “I thank the Asian American Federation for partnering with us to develop the series, and to our community partners, City agency staff, and volunteers for helping us to kick off our ‘Health Care Weekend of Action’ across the city.”
“Asian American Federation is thrilled to have partnered with NYC Care on the ‘Doctor Public Service Announcement’ video series, to ensure all New Yorkers are connected to primary and specialty care,” said Jo-Ann Yoo, Executive Director of Asian American Federation. “The physicians in the series send a clear message that health care is a human right in New York City, and that accessing NYC Care will have no impact on ones’ immigration status. I urge all New Yorkers to share these videos widely as we work towards building a healthier city for all.”
Following the release, NYC Care will kick off a ‘Health Care Weekend of Action’ in Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island from Friday, July 14th to Sunday, July 16th with support from Project Hospitality, Korean Community Services of Metro NY (KCS), DSI International, Make The Road NY, Mixteca, Urban Neighborhood Services, and the JCC of Greater Coney Island. The partners will work with community organizers, NYC Care staff members, and NYC Health + Hospitals volunteers to conduct outreach directly to New Yorkers to reach them where they live and work. Some of the sites include:
- Port Richmond, Staten Island
- Flushing, Queens
- Jamaica, Queens
- Bushwick, Brooklyn
- Sunset Park, Brooklyn
- Coney Island, Brooklyn
NYC Care asks New Yorkers to share out the videos from the social media toolkit, to encourage all those who are eligible to enroll in the program, renew their membership, or to schedule a primary care appointment. These efforts are geared toward continuing the high levels of NYC Care member engagement, which was highlighted in a recent media roundtable and presented to the AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting in a study entitled, “Engaging New Primary Care Patients: Access for Uninsured Patients at an Urban Safety Net System.” NYC Care was the recipient of the Tyson Award for Excellence in Pursuit of Healthcare Equity by The Joint Commission and Kaiser Permanente, recognized for its multi-pronged public awareness and outreach strategy to connect over 100,000 New Yorkers to health care.
“Language access is key to ensuring immigrant communities are connected to City services. I am thrilled to see the development of this multilingual video series to tackle health care inequities faced by immigrant New Yorkers by connecting them to the NYC Care program,” said Manuel Castro, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. “By working with city agencies, community partners, and with New Yorkers across the city, we can continue to build trust by encouraging all New Yorkers, regardless of their immigration status, to access the care they are entitled to. I encourage all to share out the videos and encourage friends and neighbors to visit nyccare.nyc to learn more about the program.”
“At the Council of Peoples Organization, we firmly believe every New Yorker, regardless of their immigration status or socio-economic class, deserves universal and equitable access to healthcare,” said Mohammad Razvi, CEO of Council of Peoples Organization. “COPO is a proud partner and supporter of NYC Care. COPO is a direct enrollment site for NYC Care and have a health insurance navigator on staff available to assist our clients and answer any questions that they may have. A majority of our clients are undocumented individuals and immigrants, so NYC Care has been a great program as it allows clients who are undocumented to receive access to affordable health care. NYC Care also helps provide our qualifying clients to be able to purchase groceries through their food program.”
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About Asian American Federation
Founded in 1989, Asian American Federation (AAF) is a pan-Asian nonprofit leadership organization that represents and supports a network of 70 Asian American community service organizations. AAF’s mission is to raise the influence and well-being of the pan-Asian American community through research, policy advocacy, public awareness, and organizational development. AAF aims to overcome the significant obstacles that low-to moderate-income Asian Americans face by empowering our 70 member nonprofits to better serve their communities. Our leadership role helps us strengthen the collective voice of the more than 20 ethnic groups—diverse in language, culture, and religion—that make up New York’s Asian community. Our activities can be grouped into four core programmatic areas: Publishing research reports, designing direct programs, advocating for policy recommendations, and training nonprofits that serve Asian American communities.
About NYC Care
NYC Care is a health care access program that provides comprehensive and low or no-cost healthcare services through NYC Health + Hospitals for New Yorkers who cannot afford or are ineligible for health insurance. NYC Care provides a membership card, 24/7 customer service, access to comprehensive and affordable healthcare services, like primary care, mental health services, and sexual and reproductive healthcare, low-cost medications, and member materials in multiple languages – regardless of your immigration status or ability to pay. Call 646-NYC-CARE (646-692-2273) or visit NYCCare.NYC to learn more and sign up today – privacy and confidentiality guaranteed.
About NYC Health + Hospitals
NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest municipal health care system in the nation. We are a network of 11 hospitals, trauma centers, neighborhood health centers, nursing homes, and post-acute care centers. We are a home care agency and a health plan, MetroPlus. Our health system provides essential services to more than one million New Yorkers every year in more than 70 locations across the city’s five boroughs. Our diverse workforce of more than 43,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.