MtgNotesMar292008









































































































Meeting notes for Mar 29, 2008:

Present: John Downey, Dora Chung, Jimmy Wong, Kevin To, Betty Yau, May Chan

Meeting was called to order at 12:15pm.

(It was continued at the Chinese United Assoc. Headquarters at 2:30p and adjourned at 4:30p.)

 

Mr. Kai Lau, a business leader shared with us his views and concerns about helping Asian Community. Mr. Lau would like to ensure that Asian affairs become a priority in the City Hall Administration. We share the points Mr. Lau made. We will continue reaching out to community members and listening to inputs.

 

Mr. James Luo - Massage Therapy and Asian Body Work licensing.

James is a fully certified and licensed massage instructor. He stated that his involvement has no financial interest at all. He does not run or own any massage business. His only intention is to give back to the society because he suffered a lot himself as a handicap. James is legally blind. 

 

Concerns of James:

1. Is it fair to have AOBTA members that are Shiatsu practitioners to evaluate Chinese TuiNa Techniques? (The analogy is like having a Sushi Chef tells a Chinese cook how and what to cook.)

2. Is it fair that the Quincy Health Department works with AOBTA exlusively?

 

James's intention:

1. to raise awareness of the unfair situation and

2. He is determined to assist the Quincy Health Department to develop a

transparent process on making public policy.

 

Suggested by James, other organizations that have resources to do assessment of Asian Bodywork:

 

1. The Association of Chinese Traditional Medicine and Bodywork

http://www.actmb.com

168 Beach St. Quincy, MA 02170

 

2. International Oriental Bodywork Association

http://www.internationalorientalbodyworkassociation..com

PO Drawer 421, Warrenton, VA 20188

 

3. The World Tui-Na Association

http://www.tui-na.com/association.html

3409 W. Burbank Blvd. Burbank, CA 91505

 

4. The International Macrobiotic Shiatsu Society (I.M.S.S.)

http://www.imss.macrobiotic.net/

2807 Wright Avenue, Winter Park, FL 32789

 

5. International Acupressure Medical Association

PO Box 528 Blaine, WA 98231-0528

 

6. American QiGong Society

http://www.eastwestqi.com

117 Topaz Way, San Francisco, CA 94131

 

7. National QiGong Association

http://www.nqa.org

P.O. Box 270065, St Paul, MN 55127

 

8. Jin Shin Do Foundation of Bodymind Acupressure

http://www.jinshindo.org/

P.O. Box 416, Idyllwild, CA 92549

 

9. The International Thai Massage Association

http://www.thaimassage.com/itta/ittaindex.html

PO Box 367, Talbotton GA 31827

 

The Advisory Committee's question:

- How true it is that AOBTA is the exclusive group that Quincy Health Dept. works with?

- How would Quincy Health Dept. staff know the evaluation guidelines for massage and for the different Asian bodywork techniques?

- How true it is that AOBTA evaluators are not qualified to evaluate Chinese Tuina technique? 

 

John Downey of the Asian-American Advisory Committee will obtain an old statue for massage licensure matters in the Quincy City. We will review the statue and then plan for the next step.

 

Chinese United Association Headquarters Visit:

We, John Downey, May Chan, Kevin To, Jimmy Wong, Betty Yau and Dora Chung met with Mr. Chan, Mrs. Chan, Mr. Chiu, Mr. Lee and Auntie Kwong of the Chinese United Association Headquarters at their office at 665 Hancock Street. The office is tidy and clean. There are a total of 4 rooms for the headquarters: an office, a classroom, a library and an activity room. During conversations, Mrs. Chan brought up the police raid which is now a court case. Mrs. Chan said that absolutely they never run any prostitute activites. They have been donating money, time and energy to provide some services to new Chinese immigrant fellows. Now their reputation is damaged; they decided to seize all community services until their name is clear. We said we will look into the police report to learn more about the issues and get back to them.

 

Open House: to be discussed at next meeting

 

Zoning Task Force: no new report from last meeting

 

Next meeting: Sat., April 12 at 10am at Quincy City Hall

 

Respectfully submitted,

Betty Yau