By: Jessica Nguyen

Summer is gone, the leaves are changing and it's starting to get a bit chilly...that could only mean one thing; you may be getting a visitor...the flu. Getting sick can be one of the worst feelings. Being informed and proactive will help you better prepare yourself for the upcoming fall and winter months. Please keep in mind that the seasonal and H1N1 Flu vaccines are different and by getting one does not protect yourself from the other, but prevention and treatment are similar .

My Chinese mother always reminds me that it is better to prevent sickness than to have to treat it later. After several lessons learned, I found that this golden rule speaks the truth. Prevention, along with taking an active role in one’s health, are the best solutions to living a long and happy life. Simple modifications in diet and lifestyle can prevent an array of illnesses. One of those illnesses that stands out is cancer – a chronic disease that is the number one cause of death for Asian-Americans. There is no one cause of cancer, but there is strong evidence of some factors that can contribute to the risks of cancer. To minimize the risk of cancer, here are seven easy steps.

APICHN seeks committed student volunteers to assist the network in the  completion and continuation of its several projects. Depending on your interests and skill level, the network offers great opportunities for these volunteers to engage in tasks that will enable them to acquire skills that are indispensable in their employment search.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” an immortal saying by the Chinese philosopher, Lao Tzu.  This has also been used the guiding principle of a network in San Diego that has decided to embark on a humongous task of addressing health disparities within the Asian/ Pacific Islander (API) communities.

With funding from the Community Clinics Initiative, a joint project between Tides Foundation and The California Endowment, APICHN embarked on the following projects: a survey of healthcare API resources; a review of research literature written on, for and about the API community in San Diego; and focus group discussions with select API sub-ethnic communities.