Our Crowdfunding Groups
About Vietnamese Community Health and Our Mission
In 2006, Vietnamese Community Health (VCH) was founded by five UCLA students with the words, Sức khỏe là vàng (Health is gold), in mind. Years later, VCH has exponentially grown and like its founders, those who are currently a part of VCH aim to improve the health and overall well-being of the underserved communities in Orange County (O.C.) and strive to solve the health disparities faced by these communities. Although Vietnamese and Hispanic immigration began decades ago, many individuals in these communities continue to struggle. Many lack health care access and insurance due to financial, language, and cultural barriers. Our organization is dedicated to alleviating these barriers and working hard to improve healthcare accessibility and better understand our patients and their needs.
Data collected from VCH's Spring 2024 Health Fair revealed important findings:
- 13.1% of patients who attended VCH's Spring 2024 Health Fair reported having no insurance.
- 44.1% of patients who attended VCH's Spring 2024 Health Fair reported an annual household income of $10,000 or less.
- Barely half of VCH's patients reported at least an intermediate level of English proficiency, while 15.7% reported no proficiency.
- The median age at our most recent health fair was 66 years old, in which silent diseases such as hypertension and diabetes occur in older adults at higher incidences.
What Your Support Means
With the support of donors, Vietnamese Community Health (VCH) will be better equipped to host its quarterly Health Fairs, an event where we provide a wide range of free, accessible, and culturally sensitive health services to our primarily elderly Vietnamese and Hispanic patient populations.
We are aiming to raise $6,000 to help fund the costs of hosting one of our Health Fairs. Your generous donations will help cover the costs of renting the facility where we hold our services, transporting our UCLA volunteers from Los Angeles to Orange County, and purchasing the supplies needed to run the various services and providing the resources we give to our patients.
What is Health Fair?
To further our mission of alleviating the health disparities faced by underserved communities in Orange County, VCH hosts quarterly Health Fairs. At these events, we invite around 80 healthcare providers (consisting of physicians, dentists, optometrists, and more) and bring 60 UCLA volunteers, typically serving over 200 patients at each event. Through our Health Fairs, we provide a wide range of services such as glucose and cholesterol exams, hypertension screenings, doctor consultations, bone density screenings, vision services, and more. In particular, we prioritize Spanish and Vietnamese-speaking providers to cater towards the cultural and linguistic needs of our patient demographic. Additionally, our trained volunteers are also able to translate and assist patients, with many of our members compiling and translating the health education resources we give out to our patients.
Through our Health Fairs, VCH aspires to continue its mission of improving community health awareness, promoting health equity in underserved populations, and educating our patients to become more proactive about their health. Our organization constantly strives to give our service recipients the tools for a healthier life - tools otherwise too expensive or inaccessible. From giving out toothbrushes to translating follow-up lab results, VCH commits itself to raising awareness and promoting prevention. We truly believe that one's health is the greatest wealth.
How Can I Help?
As a non-profit student-run organization, we do not have a steady source of income and gathering funds to support the programs and services that we provide for our patients is difficult. By contributing to our campaign, you will aid in maintaining the quality of our services, the purchase of necessary materials and fees for our events, and improving our student programming at UCLA. Any donation amount makes a difference!
Lastly, please share our campaign and cause with your family and friends, follow us on Facebook, and visit our website for more information.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE UCLA FOUNDATION'S DISCLOSURE STATEMENTS FOR DONORS
Should this fund reach the campus minimum required for the establishment of an endowment or quasi-endowment, The UCLA Foundation reserves the right to convert this fund to an endowment or quasi-endowment. Please click here to learn more about how the UCLA Foundation invests and manages its endowments.
Your gift will pay for a complete first aid and dental hygiene kit for one patient, including bandages, alcohol swabs, toothpaste, toothbrush, and floss.
A gift of this size will allow us to provide a pair of free reading glasses for a patient in need.
A gift of this size will help cover the printing costs for critical health education flyers and materials, translated in Vietnamese, Spanish, and English for our patients.
Your donation will contribute to the cost of basic medical supplies, such as gloves, face masks, and other protective gear needed for our volunteers and providers.
With your donation, we are able to provide an essential blood pressure monitor, enabling our volunteers to assess and identify potential hypertension risks in patients.
This will help cover the costs of advertisements we send out to local, cultural radio stations and newspapers to promote the Health Fair and reach more underserved families in the community.
You have donated enough money to provide cholesterol and blood glucose testing supplies for our patients, helping identify critical health risks such as pre-diabetes in the communities we serve.