ASPR client Genomind’s Genecept Assay™ received praise in the media as a breakthrough for psychiatry during the recent Mental Illness Awareness Week and World Mental Health Day.
Dr. Bibi Das appeared on the Fox affiliate in San Francisco to explain how she relies on the Genecept Assay. “I focus on using the genetic information to give personalized medicine, which is a huge step in the right direction.” Click Here to Watch Dr. Das’ Appearance.
Dr. Karen Rhea, Chief Medical Officer of Centerstone in Nashville, also appeared on a call-in program on the CBS affiliate in her community. She answered questions from the public about mental health issues and explained how the Assay is a cutting-edge tool. Rhea has been elected a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. Centerstone, a not-for-profit organization, is one of the nation’s largest providers of community-based behavioral healthcare. Click Here to Watch Dr Rhea’s Appearance.
ASPR is proud to represent the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation. You can learn more about its recent activities in the news release below and at this link to a TV interview ASPR arranged: http://bit.ly/1S7Y465
Seventy-Five Years after Last Immigrant Arrived in America through Angel Island,
Painful Legacy Lives On
Former Detainees and Descendants to Reflect, Remember during Special Reunion Event
SAN FRANCISCO–June 25, 2015–The last immigrant who passed through the U.S. Immigration Station at Angel Island was processed 75 years ago, yet former detainees and their descendants will soon return to remember and honor these difficult journeys.
From 1910 to 1940, Angel Island was the site of an immigration station that enforced policies designed to exclude, rather than welcome, many Pacific Coast immigrants coming from 82 countries. More than half a million people were processed through Angel Island; many were sent home after the U.S. government determined they were undesirable.
Nearly 100 former detainees and descendants of those who were processed through Angel Island are expected to attend the day-long series of events that will include recognition of Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Jewish, Russian and Indian family history.
Expert genealogists from the community and Ancestry.com will also be available to help people search for their roots.
The event also will be an opportunity for AIISF to share details about Immigrant Heritage Benches, a new special commemorative opportunity as part of the Open the Doors campaign to create the Angel Island State Park Pacific Coast Immigration Center. Supporters are invited to be part of this campaign by honoring the legacy of those who came before us, shaping our lives and the history of America. Located in historically significant locations at the Immigration Station site, there are 36 permanent benches available for personal dedication.
9:45–10:45 a.m. Arrival by ferry on the island and 25 minute walk to Immigration Station (shuttle available for seniors and disabled)
11:15–1 p.m. Speakers
Sam Louie, docent and descendant of Angel Island immigrants
Maria Sakovich, Russian public historian
Grace Yoo, professor, San Francisco State University, who will discuss Korean immigrants
Mel Orpilla, Filipino American National Historical Society
Jeffrey Klein, whose mother Rosa was questioned on Angel Island in 1940 after a harrowing journey from Austria by way of Italy, Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) and China to escape the Nazis
Nancy Ukai Russell, journalist
1:00–3:00 Exploration of immigration station; community members who have conducted a lot of research will share their findings in Room 105 of the Immigration Station and in the WWII Mess Hall.
3:00 and later Return to ferry docks
FERRY INFO TO ANGEL ISLAND
From San Francisco: Take the 9:45 a.m., Blue and Gold Fleet from Pier 41
From Oakland: Take the 9 a.m., San Francisco Bay Ferry to San Francisco Pier 41, transfer to
Blue and Gold Fleet
From Tiburon: Take the 10 a.m., Angel Island Tiburon Ferry from 21 Main St., Belvedere
Tiburon
From Vallejo: Take the 8:30 a.m., San Francisco Bay Ferry to San Francisco Pier 41, transfer to Blue and Gold Fleet
ASPR is honored to be retained by wonderful clients; many of them are great nonprofits. Sometimes there is a cause or issue that comes along that doesn’t really fit into the category of client work and it becomes a pro bono project.
Recently, such an opportunity presented itself when we were approached by the children of soldiers killed in the line of duty during WWII. The government mandated that their fathers be buried in American cemeteries overseas, and in return the American Battle Monuments Commission served a role in ensuring flowers were placed on the grave sites on Memorial Day and other important days.
The families always paid for the flowers, but recently the government pulled back on its role in ensuring the memorials made it to the grave sites.
ASPR was proud to capture the elements of the story and share them with targeted media. Thanks to The Washington Post and ABC 7’s Kimberly Suiters, the public learned about the situation and an ABMC spokesperson apologized.
Adam recently asked some questions of Thalia Assuras, who has more than 30 years of experience as a broadcast journalist, writer, strategic communications counselor, media trainer and public speaker. Today, she partners with clients to meet all their communications challenges. She has performed at the highest levels of broadcast journalism as an anchor and correspondent at the ABC and CBS television news networks and at Canada’s CTV and Global CanWest networks. Currently, Assuras Communications and ASPR have a strategic partnership that helps clients achieve their goals.
Adam: Tell us about some of your most memorable assignments.
Thalia: Well, the list is much too long but I’ll pick three. I spent several weeks in Iraq in 2003 working with terrific journalists, producers and crews covering the conflict from a number of angles—on U.S. military patrols on the streets of Baghdad, when protests and violence first broke out in Fallujah, with Iraqi families who had so many stories to tell. On the lighter side, I covered the Olympics in Athens in 2004—two weeks of sport, culture and security issues. And finally, every day as a news anchor, evening news and two-hour morning broadcasts brought new and intriguing challenges.
Adam: The media environment is rapidly changing. Does the way we think about telling stories need to change as well?
Thalia: There are new tricks and tools and technologies that help the process today but the fundamental thinking remains the same: good storytelling is the key. That’s how an audience/reader is drawn in and held, no matter the visuals, the production magic, the writing (which is critical, though, don’t get me wrong). The compelling character(s) and the compelling reason for the story are what make it happen in the first place.
Adam: What should clients keep in mind when working with a PR firm and trying to gain attention?
Thalia: One of the most important things to remember is that a PR firm is not out to “sell” a client’s product, issue or service. The goal is to press—or as ASPR rightly says, “uncover”—a client’s story: How people’s daily lives are affected or might be changed and improved by being aware of what that organization has to offer.
ASPR recently secured publication of this op-ed in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, an important paper in regards to clients’ interest in its congressional delegation.
Arkansas’ Leadership on Teaching the Next Generation Must Continue
By Lia Lent, National Executive Director, Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters USA
David Tenner is an Arkansan we can all be proud of. He graduated from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with a master’s degree; he is now a business consultant.
Yet David’s education journey began much earlier, as it does for all of us. Before he even entered kindergarten his mom stepped forward and asked for help in dealing with David’s language challenges from our nonprofit, Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters—HIPPY.
HIPPY is a home visiting program designed to support parents, and grandparents, of 3-to-5 year olds, in their role as their child’s first and most important teacher. We work directly with interested families in underserved communities to provide guidance on how to teach their young children the important skills that they will need to be successful in school and in life. As we like to say, parenthood doesn’t come with instructions.
David says, “I now realize the impact of having learned recognition and context clues skills from HIPPY. These helped me to further expand my early education skills and resulted in really successful outcomes while in elementary and middle school.”
David’s story isn’t unique. In Arkansas, for nearly 30 years, communities have taken this innovative approach to empowering families to teach the next generation.
Years of research conducted in the United States and eight other countries found HIPPY to be effective in improving school readiness, parent involvement, school attendance, classroom behavior and standardized test scores and academic performance.
In fact, research conducted partly in Arkansas has shown children participating in HIPPY demonstrate statistically significant higher achievement scores in reading, math and social studies in third, fifth and sixth grades based on multiple measures.
One of the programs in our state we are most proud of is connected to Rogers Public Schools, where it is marking 25 years of success. The program right now serves 84 children and there usually is a waiting list.
The schools in this district recognize the value of investing in young children before kindergarten. HIPPY graduates are shown to arrive at their doorstep better prepared for school and their parents are more engaged in their child’s progress.
HIPPY, and other home visiting programs like it, have proven that they provide a strong return on the investment by private supporters and foundations. Federal support for these initiatives initially began under President George W. Bush and it continues to this day.
As Congress looks to renew funding for home visiting under the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program, we trust it will examine all the benefits that it provides. This federal-state partnership is a proven strategy for strengthening families and saving money.
The MIECHV program is also designed with a high degree of accountability. States track and measure effectiveness to make sure that it works as intended. The legislation requires programs to be “evidence-based,” with a proven track record of effectiveness as demonstrated through rigorous scientific study. HIPPY was proud to be one of the first seven programs nationwide to meet this high standard.
The federal-state partnership is designed to give states flexibility to identify some of the biggest challenges facing their young children that can be addressed through home visiting support, such as infant mortality, child abuse prevention or school readiness. The states then choose the right type of family support programs to meet those needs and communities implement them. In many cases, HIPPY is the chosen model, but there are others.
In particular, the Arkansas experience with HIPPY makes it a national leader in the home visiting movement. We must not lose a step in maintaining our role and improving outcomes for the most vulnerable young people.
