Building Underway On San Jose’s Vietnamese American Well being Care Heart – CBS San Francisco

SAN JOSE (KPIX) – A sparkling new building being built in the middle of the Little Saigon neighborhood of San Jose is designed to meet the health needs of Vietnamese Americans, who make up 11 percent of the city’s population.

“There’s nothing like it anywhere in the country,” said Betty Duong, project manager for the new Vietnamese-American service center on Senter Road.

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The center addresses a worrying trend first revealed in a county survey a decade ago – many Vietnamese Americans were not receiving the health care the county offered.

“We found that the language barriers were there, the cultural barriers,” said Duong.

More than 60 percent of South Bay Vietnamese Americans surveyed over the years said they had limited English skills, and more than half did not know the county provides health care services.

The solution: the $ 65 million center that brings together medical, dental, nutritional, mental health services, and more, including childcare.

“This has to be a one-stop shop location,” said Duong.

People told her, “I don’t want to go to five different buildings for five different services, especially when I have kids.”

And to minimize the stigma of psychosocial counseling, everyone checks in at the same reception point.

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“They’re basically camouflaged in the open,” she added.

The 30,000 square meter center will also host cultural events.

Decades of efforts to build the center under the direction of regulators Dave Cortese and Cindy Chavez took into account community contributions to services and design.

“As a Vietnamese-American architect, it means a lot to me,” said Thang Do, CEO of Aedis Architects, who designed the center.

He says the building reflects Vietnamese culture and welcomes everyone.

“You should be proud that the community has a pretty great center to call home,” said Do.

Among the highlights: a capital letter V for the Vietnamese, pictures of rice patties, bamboo edges on the window and drums that trace the history of the Vietnamese diaspora after the end of the war in 1975.

“The ceiling (of the multipurpose room) is shaped like the Vietnamese conical hat,” said Do.

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The hope is that when the center opens in October, Vietnamese Americans will find good health, healing and a new hangout.