With Support From Sands Cares, the Asian Community Development Council Opens the Healthy Asians & Pacific Islanders Medical Center in Las Vegas
On August 8, the Asian Community Development Center (ACDC), Southern Nevada’s leading nonprofit organization serving the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, celebrated the grand opening of its Healthy Asians & Pacific Islanders (HAPI) Medical Center. Years in the making, the HAPI Medical Center provides primary health care services for the Las Vegas Valley’s AAPI community, with a 100% bilingual staff that can deliver care in Korean, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Mandarin Chinese and more languages to come.
Elected officials participating in the grand opening included Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak and First Lady Kathy Sisolak, as well as Congressman Steven Horsford, Congresswoman Susie Lee, Assemblywoman Brittney Miller, Assemblywoman Rochelle Nguyen and Clark County Commissioner Justin Jones.
At the ceremony, speakers shared stories about acting as family members’ translators for medical appointments as youth and the difficulty AAPI community members face in finding care delivered in their preferred language.
Located near the heart of the AAPI community in Las Vegas, the Healthy Asians & Pacific Islanders Medical Center’s mission is to provide high-quality and linguistically and culturally accessible health services for the underserved, uninsured and underinsured populations in Las Vegas Valley. Community residents who come to the HAPI Medical Center will be asked their preferred language and then paired with an in-language care provider who also understands cultural differences and how to complement Western medicine with Eastern practices, if desired.
“Too often, our community residents have to rely on a family member, frequently a child, to help them understand their medical providers and care,” said Vida Lin, founder and president of ACDC. “Since I founded ACDC in 2015 in Southern Nevada, I have wanted to establish a new health care resource for the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities to help break down the barriers that prevent people from receiving the high-quality care they need and deserve. The opening of the HAPI Medical Center is a dream come true for me, and I thank Sands for the support to make this much-needed resource a reality.”
Earlier this year, Sands provided $100,000 to ACDC through Sands Cares to support the opening of the Healthy Asians & Pacific Islanders Medical Center, a component of the company’s overall 2022 partnership, which also included ACDC’s language bank and in-language hotline. Sands had helped ACDC launch the language bank in 2021 with Sands Cares funding to facilitate connections to critical social services for AAPI residents in Southern Nevada. Both programs represent Sands Cares’ focus on helping nonprofit organizations build capacity to amplify their impact, as well as removing systemic barriers for diverse communities.
The Healthy Asians & Pacific Islanders Medical Center is now open to provide care Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 8863 W. Flamingo Rd. Suite 101. To learn more, please visit www.hapimedical.org.