Language Rights Town Hall Recording

Video

Pictures

Language Access Town Hall 2-27-09

Program

Registration
Video Documentary
Opening Remarks
Don Knabe
Los Angeles County Supervisor, Chairman, 4th District
Testimonies of Seniors
Panelist Remarks
Louisa Ollague
Office of Gloria Molina, Los Angeles County Supervisor, 1st District
Senior Legislative Deputy
Philip Browning
Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services
Director
John F. Schunhoff
Los Angeles County Department of Health Services
Director
Michael Leoz
Region IX of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights
Deputy Regional Manager
Gerald McIntyre
National Senior Citizen Law Center
Directing Attorney
Doreena P. Wong
National Health Law Program
Staff Attorney
Questions and Answers
Closing

Speakers

Supervisor Don Knabe was first elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in November of 1996 and was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2000, 2004 and 2008. Supervisor Knabe represents the Fourth District and is Chairman of the Los Angeles County Supervisors. Supervisor Knabe is both a past President of the Coliseum Commission and past Chairman of First 5 Los Angeles. He is a Member and past Chairman of the Urban County Caucus of the California State Association of Counties, an Executive Board Member of the California State Association of Counties, and sits on the Board of Governors for L.A. Care Health Plan. In addition, he is the Vice Chairman of the Health Sub-Committee for the National Association of Counties and a Trustee at the Aquarium of the Pacific located in Long Beach.

Chung-Ho Shin sent his son and siblings to the U.S. to study abroad 20 years ago and they subsequently became citizens and sponsored him and his wife. A resident of a senior apartment downtown, Mr. Shin is currently Southern California Senior Citizen Society’s vice-president. He has also been actively participating in the MediCal Language Access Campaign for several years as a CHP member.

Taesoon Chun is 74 years old, a U.S. citizen living alone in a senior housing apartment downtown. She has been an active CHP member for the past two years and participating in the MediCal Language Access Campaign.

Sunha Kim loves living in Los Angeles and resides in a senior housing apartment with his wife. He has been in the U.S. for 25 years and is a U.S. citizen. As a CHP member, he has been participating in the activities of MediCal Language Access Campaign since 2006.
Louisa Ollague is currently a Senior Legislative Deputy for Los Angeles County Board of Supervisor Gloria Molina since 2000. Her responsibilities include oversight of the County’s overall budget along with oversight of the various county departments including homelessness issues. Previously, she was the Regional Census Director for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund Census campaign in Southern California, Arizona and New Mexico, where she implemented an aggressive outreach campaign.

Philip Browning was selected as Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services in April 1, 2007. This Department has over 13,000 employees, serves over 2 million individuals and has an operating budget of over $3 billion and operates a broad range of human service programs. Prior to this appointment Mr. Browning served as the first director of the newly created Los Angeles County Child Support Services Department where collections reached a record high of over $505 million and a culture of customer service was developed rather than a law enforcement model. Prior to his appointment in Los Angeles, Mr. Browning served as the director of the Child Support Office in the District of Columbia and project consultant to the Federal Office of Child Support.

John F. Schunhoff, Ph.D., was named Interim Director in May 2008 of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (DHS). In that role, he managed day-to-day operations of all Public Health with an annual budget exceeding $650 million. Prior to his Directorship appointment, he served as Chief Deputy Director of DHS, Chief of Operations of Public Health, and Acting Director of Public Health Programs and Services. Earlier, he served more than four years as Director of the Office of AIDS Programs and Policy (OAPP), where he oversaw the coordination of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and support services, the management of federal and state funding, and worked closely with the Commission on HIV, the HIV Prevention Planning Committee and community advocates.

Michael Leoz is the Deputy Regional Manager for Region IX of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), Office for Civil Rights. Region IX has jurisdiction over Health and Human Service fund recipients and covered entities located in the states of Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada and the Pacific Territories. The agency’s responsibilities include the enforcement of federal civil rights laws and health information privacy laws including Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the HIPAA Privacy Rule. One of the primary areas of enforcement for OCR is ensuring that Health and Human Service funded recipients, including social service agencies, provide meaningful access to their services to persons who are limited English proficient.

Gerald McIntyre is a Directing Attorney at the National Senior Citizen Law Center, which provides support to legal services lawyers across the country on issues affecting elderly poor people. He co-counsels Social Security and SSI class action litigation, trains and responds to inquiries from attorneys. From 1974 to 1979, he worked at Monroe County Legal Assistance Corporation Southern Tier Legal Services in New York State as a project director. From 1979 to 1991, he was executive director at the Southern Tier Legal Services, Bath, New York providing legal counseling and representation to poor people in a primarily rural area of Western New York State. The program was primarily funded by the Legal Services Corporation, New York State and the New York IOLA Fund. From 1991 to 1992, he was a visiting lecturer/staff attorney at Cornell Law School supervising student practice in a civil legal aid clinic and teaching a legal skills course.

Doreena Wong is a Staff Attorney at the National Health Law Program (“NHeLP”), which is a national public interest law firm working to increase and improve access to quality health care on behalf of limited income people by providing legal analysis and representation, information, education, and policy advocacy. She is currently one of the co-chairs of the Policy and Research Committee and on the Board of the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care, and serves on, the Advisory Group of the National Conference on Quality Health Care for Culturally Diverse Populations, and one of the co-chairs of the Communications Committee of the National Coalition on Health Care Interpreter Certification. She places a special focus on increasing the provision of culturally and linguistically appropriate health care services for immigrants and limited-English proficient populations.

Special thanks to

Speakers
Philip Browning, Director, Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services
Taesoon Chun, Member, Community Health Promoters
Sunha Kim, Member, Community Health Promoters
Don Knabe, Chairman, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors
Los Angeles County Supervisor, 4th District
Michael Leoz, Deputy Regional Manager, Region IX of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office for Civil Rights
Gerald McIntyre, Directing Attorney, National Senior Citizen Law Center
Louisa Ollague, Senior Legislative Deputy, Office of Gloria Molina, Los Angeles County Supervisor, 1st District
John F. Schunhoff, Director, Los Angeles County Department of Health Services
Chung Ho Shin, Vice President, Southern California Senior Citizens Society
Doreena P. Wong, Senior Legislative Deputy, National Health Law Program

Elected and Appointed Officers
Bin Plume, District Representative, Office of Congresswoman Diane Watson
Mariana Talleda Gitomer, Public Affairs Specialist, Social Security Administration
Miya Iwataki, Director, Los Angeles City Department of Health Services, Office of Diversity and Cultural Competency
Nick Ippolito, Health Deputy, Office of Don Knabe, Los Angeles County Supervisor, Chairman, 4th District
Office of Mark Ridley Thomas, Los Angeles County Supervisor, 2nd District
Robert Miletch, Civil Rights Section Director, Department of Public Social Services
Steve Veres, District Director, Office of Assemblyman Kevin De Leon

Organizations and Institutions
Arirang Apartment
Asian & Pacific Islander Older Adults Task Force
Asian Pacific American Legal Center
The California Endowment
The Council of Korean Churches in Southern California
Church of Peace
JBC Radio
Korean Friendliness Club Angelus Plaza
Korean Senior Citizens Mutual Club
Little Tokyo Service Center, CDC
Oxford Avenue Apartment
Radio Korea U.S.A.
Southern California Senior Citizens Society
United Mission Evangelical church

Individuals
Andrew Lo, Teacher, Normandie Senior English School