
When I first established PASSi in 2004, I just wanted help my mom with cancer, who only spoke the Korean language and some of her frail friends who were in challenging situations.
However, soon after I opened my homecare agency, I learned that no other Asian communities were providing ethnic language homecare services due to unfamiliarity with the government system and lack of guidance.
Most of the mainstream agencies were strangers to Asian culture and do not know how to serve unaccustomed immigrants. I hired a Chinese speaking RN in 2005 to train Chinese Home Health Aides and began to serve Chinese seniors. Then, I realized that there were pervasive disparities in getting long term healthcare services for frail, low-income seniors in Asian communities. In establishing the first homecare agency in the State to address this very issue, I felt my obligation to serve and lead.
Adding one language at a time, PASSi’s Homecare now serves in 17 different Asian languages to match our clients’ native tongue. Our service also includes cooking client’s ethnic meals so that they can comfortably stay home rather than going to nursing homes. In 2014, we also opened an adult day care, Penn Asian Jubilee Center (PAJC), to prevent seniors’ isolation and provide culturally suited activities. With all 3 ethnic meals provided and pick-up service by bi-lingual drivers, PAJC now serves approximately 70 gratified participants daily. Our center also has beautifully landscaped gardens with a fish-pond, a vegetable garden, and a raised patio garden for handicapped seniors to participate in gardening. PASSi currently hires 570 employees with a $17 million annual budget to serve over 700 seniors, including 19% non-Asian seniors.
PASSi recently dedicated a beautiful mural on its west wall portraying our PAJC seniors created by Anne Northrup with Philadelphia Mural Arts. This mural boosted the spirits of our seniors and validity of their presence in the community. PASSi also kicked off our long-awaited renovation project of its South building into a new 15,000 sf senior community center with swimming pool, gym, garden café, and 350 people capacity auditorium. As we look forward to the completion of the project in Summer 2018, PASSi continues to be the premier provider for supportive services for Asian seniors and other senior communities, always mindful of the rising needs with compassion and respect.