LOCAL PROGRAMS
COMMUNITY HEALTH FAIR
This is one of our local community programs that provides general consultation and education. Many patients who come to our health fair cannot afford insurance, and typically live under the poverty line. We hope to bridge this gap of health access by providing services that are typically needed for the patrons we serve. Once a year, M.E.M.O. collaborates with Vietnamese Physician Association of Southern California (V.P.A.S.C.), Lestonnac Free Clinic, Vietnamese Cancer Society, and CalOptima to host a health fair where health and trained students tend to people of the local Orange County community.
LESTONNAC FREE CLINIC
M.E.M.O. has the opportunity to volunteer at the Lestonnac Free Clinic at their Garden Grove location. The clinic aims to offer free healthcare services to those in Southern California who are unable to afford it. Volunteers are able to gain clinical experience here. Volunteers must commit to a shift for the whole quarter. If you're interested, rotation sign ups begin at the start of every quarter, and can be found on the M.E.M.O. Facebook page and email announcements. If you have any questions regarding the clinic, please feel free to contact Caroline Cao or Celeste Montalvo through Facebook, or email them at help@aboutmemo.org.
V-DASH
MEMO implemented a nutrition intervention program based on DASH diet principles to achieve good hypertensive control in the elderly Vietnamese population in Orange County. We worked alongside local Vietnamese restaurants and one volunteer nutritionist associated with MEMO to adopt the DASH diet meals that would be palatable to the Vietnamese taste preferences. Throughout the duration of the study, we monitored over 24 patients’ blood pressure daily. Ultimately, we taught non-compliant patients how to change their diet to control their hypertension. Our secondary goal was to provide patient care coordination during a pandemic where elderly patients are required to self-quarantine and to provide business to restaurants that have a negative impact from COVID 19 pandemic.
SMILE TODAY
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, visitors were restricted in the pediatric hospital, which led to many children feeling isolated. UCI, UCSD, and USC worked together to create activity books, called Smile Today. In these booklets were fun games integrated with educational topics. For example, these booklets consisted of a variety of activities such as connecting the dots, color by numbers, hidden pictures, crossword puzzles, Mad Libs, word searches, and more. The purpose of these activity packets were to keep the children entertained as they got better in the hospital! The activity books were donated to local hospitals and family centers throughout Southern California.
LATO FUNDRAISER
Last year's monsoon season brought heavy floods in Vietnam, displacing 90,000 people and inundating 252,000 homes. In line with our mission to serve the impoverished, MEMO held an online fundraiser to support the affected Vietnamese communities. Through our social media platforms, MEMObers fundraised and donated a total of $1,400 to nonprofit organization, Love Across the Ocean (LATO). This donation helped aid the recovery from the historic November 2020 floods, providing food and supplies for over 400 families. Thank you once again to everyone who contributed to this cause!
PROJECT AWAKEN
Project Awaken is a program in development in response to the ongoing pandemic as well as having a personal connection with MEMO as a whole. The project proposal is to provide skilled nursing facilities, nursing homes, and retirement homes with tablets so that family members and MEMO volunteers will be able to provide social interaction and create meaningful connections with isolated patients through video chatting.
(pictured above: arts and craft with the residents)
Our U.C.I. chapter offers plenty of volunteer opportunities around the Orange County area.
Our U.C.S.D. chapter offers plenty of volunteer opportunities around the San Diego area.
Our U.S.C chapter offers plenty of volunteer opportunities around the Los Angelas area.