Mission Statement

To promote, advance, and ensure the health and well being of the Asian American community in
Houston through nursing, education, and outreach.
Founders Statement
The Chinese Nurses Association of Houston (CNAH) is established in 1987. To say the least,
CNAH has evolved tremendously over the years. When I originally founded CNAH, my
objective was simply to provide Chinese nurses and nursing students especially those who
had just immigrated to America with a forum to meet and socialize with other Chinese nurses
who were already established in the profession and community.
We managed to gather 17 nurses together at our first meeting, and our numbers grew from there
at every event. Through CNAH, we met other nurses, helped one another, and became friends
just as I had envisioned. However, we soon realized that we wanted and needed to expand the
purposes of CNAH. As nurses, it was our collective and natural desire to serve others, so we
endeavored to provide health education and services to the Asian American community.
We began our mission modestly. We set up tables outside of the Diho Market and distributed
health literature and free samples, performed weight and blood pressure checks, and answered
general health questions. Only a year later, we hosted a Health Fair in the Chinese Cultural
Center that brought hundreds of participants and tens of vendors and medical professional
volunteers. It was soon obvious that the Health Fair served a real need in the Asian American
community, so we decided to establish a sister group called Health Education for Asians League
of Houston (HEAL). HEAL allowed us to expand the depth and scope of our organization to
doctors and executives in the health care field.
Under the auspices of CNAH and HEAL, the annual Health Fair quickly grew until it was
attracting more than 2,000 participants and hundreds of vendors and medical professional
volunteers across all disciplines. Today, the Health Fair provides free and low-cost cancer
screening (skin, prostate, and oral), mammography exams, well-woman exams, eye exams,
medical diagnostics, CPR training, and many other vital services. For many participants in the
Asian American community, the Health Fair is the one time a year that they go to the doctor,
and they mark the event on their calendar like a doctors appointment.
In addition to the Health Fair, CNAH and HEAL have continued their joint mission in other
ways. We regularly provide health education and training classes at the Chinese Cultural Center.
We created an outreach program to assist Alzheimers and other chronic disease patients and
educate their caregivers, including monthly classes to teach patients and their caregivers how to
manage their diseases. We provide weekend clinics to administer free flu shots to low-income
persons and their families. In recent years, we have collected food and cash donations for the
Houston Food Bank to serve the Houston community at large.

As we celebrate this milestone anniversary, we should be proud of our achievements and

contributions over the last 25 years. We have addressed a pressing need in the Asian American
community, and we have increased awareness and services to this underserved group. However,
there is still much work to be done, and we should continue to look forward to leading the charge
in creating a healthier Asian American community in Houston.