N.J. hospital launches medical program aimed at Filipinos

Holy Name Hospital on Wednesday launched a medical program aimed at Filipino-Americans.

TEANECK -- Holy Name Hospital on Wednesday launched a medical program aimed at Filipino-Americans.

The program is the first of its kind dedicated to Filipinos in the United States, hospital officials said.

Holy Name plans to add Filipino dishes to the hospital menu, provide Filipino newspapers and TV shows in patient rooms, patient guides translated into Filipino and a network of 20 Filipino-American physicians. The hospital also plans a series of outreach events in northern New Jersey providing health screenings in partnership with local Filipino-American organizations.

There are more than 110,000 Filipinos living in New Jersey, more than 19,000 of whom live in Bergen County. They are the third most populous Asian ethnic group in the state behind Indians and Chinese.

Dr. Raymond Villongco, a physician with the Filipino Medical Program, said many Filipinos, especially older people, are more at ease with Filipino caregivers.

Filipinos have particular health issues that doctors in the program will be more familiar with, Villongco said. For example, many Filipinos have poor diets, thanks to a cuisine heavy on fried and salty food, and suffer from diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Many Filipinos also smoke.

"I want more Filipinos to get screened and live a healthier lifestyle," he said.

Severino M. Adel Jr., a Dumont resident who attended the launch, said a Filipino doctor, especially one who speaks the language, would make many first-generation immigrants like himself feel more comfortable.

"There's certain things you can't express even if you're fluent in English," he said.

Adel is president of the Philippine American Lay Apostolate of Dumont at St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church. The group is working with the Filipino Medical Program to hold a community health screenings Dec. 13 at the church.

The Filipino program falls under the umbrella of the Asian Health Services at Holy Name. The hospital has previously launched programs aimed at Koreans and, earlier this year, Chinese.

The Korean Medical Program, launched in 2008, serves 45,000 people a year, Kyung Hee Choi, vice president of Asian Health Services at Holy Name, said. That includes people using medical services at the hospital and its satellite offices in Closter and Englewood as well as those reached through outreach programs throughout the state.

The Asian programs have drawn patients from outside the hospital's Teaneck footprint, Choi said. While the about 60 percent of the general population at Holy Name comes from the Teaneck area, more than half of Asian Health Services patients come from further afield.

The launch of the Filipino Medical Program brings the hospital's complement of Asian-American doctors to 150.

While the cultural amenities and familiar faces may be a draw for patients, it remains to be seen whether they improve health outcomes.

"That's something we want to study more," Choi said.

One concrete benefit is that the outreach programs reach many patients who would otherwise never seek medical care. Many of the people they serve are uninsured, either because of the language barrier or because they're private business owners who can't afford insurance.

"We do have a lot of people who are in need of our service," Choi said. "Health care costs are very high, and on top of that, navigating the U.S. healthcare system is tough."