University of Southern California: Community Health Involvement Project

Thank you!

Hey CHIPsters!

Thank you all for an amazing semester! We would not have been able to have such a successful year in CHIP without you!

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Special thanks to our 55 active CHIP members for spring 2013:
Michael Ma
Christine Jang
Jessica Thai
Tri Tran
Jennifer Yee
Joshua Man
Joshua Hwang
Rebecca Lim
Yiwen Fu
Tiffany Li
Terrence Prasad
Kausar Ali
Michelle Kang
Maggie Kwock
Tiffany Tse
Diane Um
Genie Como
Blair Lieu
Michael Bell
Eun Ah Cho
Carolyn Li
Sara Meghji
Diana Hang
Yoon Jae Lee
Thalia Bajakian
Lawrence Castillo
Mia Choi
Geoffrey Kusaka
Jennifer Solorzano
Lilly Taing
Jessica Wang
Catherine Chan
Emily Chen
Jaimie Chen
Winnie Chen
Shelley Jelineo
Andrew Kao
Victoria Lai
Scott Matsuwaka
Darin Poei
Shayd Shinsato
Allison Skowronski
Hemalatha Bhamidi
Vivian Chan
Zachary Chen
Devika Das
Jessica Eng
Melia Ishihara
Jessica Kim
Therlinder Lo
Carnissa Lucas-Smith
Priyanka Moolchandani
Nicole Nguyen
Elaine Roh
Zion Samuel

Thanks for volunteering with us and we hope to see you at more CHIP events in the fall!

Good luck on finals!!!

-Jessica Wang, Program Director

May 5, 2013 – 9:43 pm Categories: Uncategorized | Post a comment

CHIP Member’s Appreciation Dinner!

Every year, CHIP thanks its active members with a dinner to celebrate everyone’s contribution to our work. After two semesters of healthsites and our big health fair, we had a lot to be happy about. For our dinner, about 25 of us went out for a popular food option…korean barbecue!!! There, we occupied two long tables and started ordering right away. With the yummy steamed eggs, to traditional Korean stew and of course lots of barbecue, we ate until we physically could eat no more. We were half-dazed in food comas by the time we finished. It was a great opportunity to relax, chat about summer plans and look back on all the work that CHIP has done
Another great part of the Member Appreciation Dinner was presenting senior gifts to our graduating class. A huge shout-out to the class of 2013 e-board members: Mia, Sara, Tiffany, Blair and Christine! If there’s one thing I’ve gained from being on e-board, it’s respect for these leaders who dedicate significant amounts of time and energy to our work. Each one of these beautiful ladies has helped mold CHIP into the organization it is today. As they transition into jobs and grad school, we thank them deeply for their dedication. Much CHIP love and best of luck in your endeavors!
With that, thank you to all of you CHIPsters for a fantastic year! Whether or not you realize it, the small screenings and interactions we have make a difference in the communities around USC. We hope that you will continue contributing at CHIP events next year. Have a relaxing summer.

- Diane Um, HHF Coordinator

May 5, 2013 – 8:51 pm Categories: Uncategorized | Post a comment

Thank you!

Last Friday marked the last HHF healthsite of Spring 2013. We were all feeling a bit sad as we concluded our final health screenings and will really miss all the residents over the summer. But we will definitely be back in the fall! =) Thank you to all the volunteers who helped out last Friday in Terry Manor. We were able to screen many returning as well as new residents in Terry Manor who were all grateful that we were there to provide them with their health screenings. We were also very excited to see them one last time before the school year ended and were able to successfully screen many residents!
As my last official blog, I also wanted to take time to say thank you to those who have made our HHF healthsites possible! First, I would like to thank Carl, the on-site managers, and the rest of the HHF staff for their ongoing support and care in organizing and making our screenings a success! With their help, we were able to successfully screen many residents in Terry Manor, Wilshire Vermont, Bixel, and Met Lofts! Second, I would like to thank my awesome healthsite coordinators: Jennifer, Michael, and Diane! It was really fun working with you guys and thank you all for your dedication and hard work! Last, but not least, I would like to thank all the wonderful CHIP volunteers who came to our healthsites. Thank you for being part of CHIP and hope to see you more at our HHF healthsites! All of you guys made a huge difference in the lives of all the residents we screened. Thank you so much!!!
Have a great summer everyone!
-Your friendly HHF healthsite coordinator, Christine Jang

And here are some pictures of CHIP volunteers at HHF =)

Tiffany providing blood pressure screenings.

Melissa writing down blood pressure screening results.

Nicole getting ready to provide blood pressure screenings.

Carnissa providing blood glucose screenings.

Maggie explaining screening results.

Vivian providing blood glucose screening. Maggie and Carnissa practicing blood pressure on each other.

Diane organizing blood pressure and glucose cards.

Thank you guys!!!

April 29, 2013 – 9:04 am Categories: Uncategorized | Post a comment

Adult Healthsites: South Park and FAME

Hey CHIP members,

It was another great year for FAME and South Park as we met over a hundred patients and did nearly two hundred screenings across all events! CHIP also welcomed the two new coordinators for these sites, Joshua Hwang and Tri Tran, who will be taking over next year full time. Nettie and the coordinators we worked with at FAME would also like to thank all of those who came to their services for helping to form a bridge between the FAME and USC communities. Daisy echoed these sentiments to us this past Wednesday, thanking CHIP for over 4 years of screenings for the South Park community. I would like to thank everyone for being so professional and for really trying to learn from and work with the CHIP coordinators to allow all of our events to run smoothly. Hope to see you all next year!

Love, Terrence

South Park and our volunteers

: Esther Zhang and Joshua Hwang at FAME

April 28, 2013 – 5:35 pm Categories: Uncategorized | Post a comment

Boba Fundraiser 4/24/13

Eboard took on 150 milk tea bobas and fundraised their hearts out, all in the name of CHIP. Business was slow at first, but surely we fought through the night and came out with profit! We serve the community and this was a stepping stone in helping out our community. All proceeds go into purchasing health supplies and medical equipment necessary in conducting free health screenings. A huge THANK YOU to all eboard members who helped out at this fundraiser & to those who bought bobas to help CHIP~

Love,
Carolyn

April 25, 2013 – 10:20 pm Categories: Uncategorized | Post a comment

Metro Lofts 4/19/13

Hey CHIPsters!

We went to our last Metro Lofts healthsite of the semester this past Friday. We took blood pressure screenings for the friendly residents there. It was cool to see some new faces at this healthsite. As always, it is a privilege to provide screenings to the HHF residents. Thanks to Christine, Jennifer, Diane, and Hemalatha for coming out to this healthsite!

-Michael Ma

April 21, 2013 – 10:26 pm Categories: Uncategorized | Post a comment

Bixel House ~ 04/12/2013

Hey CHIPsters!

We went to our last Bixel House health site to perform blood pressure and blood glucose screenings on Friday, April 12th. We finished the semester strong. The event was successful, and everyone had fun– volunteers and residents a like. It’s nice to see returning residents interested in getting screened every month. Some of them recognize us as well, and they are always very welcoming and social.

Thank you to Diane and Priyanka for volunteering with us and helping the health site run smoothly. Also, special thanks to Michael who drove as well. Though this was our last screening at Bixel House, we definitely look forward to more visits next year! We hope to see more CHIP volunteers coming out to this site.

From left to right: Diane, Priyanka, and Michael performing blood pressure and blood glucose screenings.

That’s it for now! Good luck on finals everyone!

Fight on!

~Jennifer Yee

April 21, 2013 – 10:39 am Categories: Uncategorized | Post a comment

4th Annual Health Fair!

This past Saturday (April 13, 2013) was our 4^th Annual Health Fair. It was held at Hoover Street Elementary School, also known as our Hoover kids’ healthsite. This year, our health fair doubled in size; we had over 20 different organizations come in to provide screenings (including blood pressure, vision, anemia, cholesterol, body fat, etc.), services, and information to the community. There were over 400 people who attended this event.

Special thanks to our volunteers and participating organizations, Professors Clarke and Evans, Professor Jacobs and her students, Jose Rivera (YMCA), Jami Johnson (YMCA), Sylvia Renteria (Children’s Institute), our sponsors, all of the community organizations, schools, churches, and of course ,Hoover Street Elementary School, who helped spread the word to make this event possible. Thank you to those who donated to our event including, PhilFund, Provost, Hebert’s Lemonade, and Walgreens.

Here is a link to all of the photos taken at the event:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10200312828076776.1073741825.1036290195&type=1&l=754d52b5b1

Facepainting!

Blood Pressure Screenings

CPR

Vision Screenings

Also, a special thank you to Hunter Ries (who let us borrow his sound system), and all of the performers who came out to our fair:

USC Capoeira
Bellorage (Jessica Leigh)
Traditional Chinese Dancers
By Your Side Dance Studio Dancers
Overflow a capella
Zumba Instructor, Alberto and Javier

USC Capoeira demonstration and activity with kids

Bellorage (Jessica Leigh)

Traditional Chinese Dance Performance

By Your Side Dancers teaching Cha Cha

Overflow

Zumba with Alberto and Javier

Thanks again, to all of the participating organizations:

USC CHIP
YMCA
Children’s Institute
Happy Family Brands
LACMA
APAMSA
USC Global Medical Brigades
USC Pre-Pharmacy Society
USC Pharmacy School
USC Doheny Eye Institute and Vision4Vision
Central City Neighborhood Partners
Eisner Clinic
Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services
Bresee Foundation
LAUSD Health Services
Planned Parenthood
Beyond the Bell
Department of Public Social Services
LAC+USC Burn Unit
Kids are 1st
Safe Kids

On behalf of CHIP Eboard and Volunteers, THANK YOU!!!

April 16, 2013 – 5:08 pm Categories: Uncategorized | Post a comment

EXPO Kids Health Site

Hi there CHIPsters!

During our most recent event at EXPO, we taught the kids more about first aid kits, especially what each and everything does to help. To start off the event, we asked each kid to draw on a cut out of a person (aka gingerbread man) possible injuries that could be treated with the items in a kit. Many kids came up with some awesome ideas such as bee stings, sprained ankles, and cuts. After learning about all the useful items in detail, all the volunteers played intense games of first-aid themed BINGO. With every space listing items found in typical first-aid kits, the kids were able to show off their knowledge while having fun at the same time.

Last but not least, we played a competitive game of JEOPARDY! Splitting up into 3 teams (hamburger, piranha, and CHIP), all the kids were able to answer all the questions we threw at them. For being able to show off what they just learned, everyone was rewarded with a special prize!!

Thank you fellow coordinators Jessica and Michael as well as all the volunteers who came out and can’t wait for the next event.

-Tiffany Li

EXPO coordinator

April 14, 2013 – 6:17 pm Categories: Uncategorized | Post a comment

SAME Church – 4/7

Good morning CHIPsters!

It’s a beautiful, sunny Sunday and we just had another successful event at the Second African Methodist Episcopal (SAME) church. The event ran smoothly and it was very productive with a good number of people wanting to be screened. It was nice to run into some of the regular churchgoers again (and most of them even remembered us from previous visits!) The churchgoers were all very friendly and grateful – expressing their thanks, sharing their personal stories, and overall just having a great time. They certainly made us feel welcomed.

A quick shout out to our lovely members Eun Ah and Wendi who did blood glucose, Thalia for both driving us to the site and doing blood pressure, and our very own healthsite coordinator Genie for making sure everything ran smoothly! We all had fun and I am looking forward to visiting the SAME Church again. Until then, hope to see you at future events!

Take care,
Blair

A member performing a blood glucose test to a churchgoer.

A member performing blood glucose test to a churchgoer.

April 7, 2013 – 12:33 pm Categories: Uncategorized | Post a comment