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Friday, May 23, 2008

Press Release: "Chinese Community Health Plan and Chinese Hospital Jointly Launching a Hepatitis B Campaign for the Chinese Community" in Chinese

華人保健計劃(CCHP)與東華醫院及診所
共同為華裔社區開展一個防止乙型肝炎宣傳活動


五月二十三日二零零八年在三藩市—東華醫院和華人保健計劃與三藩市防止乙型肝炎活動合作,希望將三藩市變成第一個無乙型肝炎的美國城市。

根據疾病控制中心的數據,亞裔患乙型肝炎的風險比其他族裔都要高。乙型肝炎是一種嚴重的疾病,百分之八十的肝癌是由它引起的。三藩市是全國患乙型肝炎率最高的城市。大概每十個亞裔人士就有一個是乙型肝炎帶菌者。亞裔比其他族裔更容易感染慢性乙型肝炎達一百倍,而且更容易死于肝癌達四倍。

華人保健計劃、東華醫院及華康醫務中心會提供全面的防止乙型肝炎計劃。此計劃的目的是希望通過各項教育渠道來提高亞裔社區對乙型肝炎的認識,并為無醫療保險或高扣除額人士提供免費或費用低廉的測試。

東華醫院行政總裁余金玲﹕ “東華醫院及華人保健計劃會全力支持三藩市防止乙型肝炎宣傳活動并合力消除乙型肝炎病毒!“

華人保健計劃醫務行政主任周兆年醫生: “參與這項活動反映了華人保健計劃一向對社區及三藩市的服務宗旨。在2001年,華人保健計劃及其醫務人員、華人健康組織聯會和華埠公共衛生局通過“B-Wise 計劃”為乙型肝炎測試發出指引、提供專業教育及鼓勵提高群眾意識。華人保健計劃亦是全國第一個為會員提供乙型肝炎測試及免疫注射保障的HMO機構。我們很高興現在有這項全市的宣傳活動,我們亦會全力支持該活動。”

華康醫務中心主任張建清﹕“該活動為群眾提供乙型肝炎測試、免疫注射、治療、定期檢查及國語 / 粵語教育講座。請廣大群眾致電415-677-2488預先登記及查詢詳情。”

教育講座﹕

講題一﹕我會感染乙型肝炎嗎?乙型肝炎簡介及提供測試。

時間及地點﹕ 1. 六月二十一日上午10﹕00至中午12﹕00在東華醫院
2. 七月十九日上午10﹕00至中午12﹕00華康第二分所
3. 八月十六日上午10﹕00至中午12﹕00在東華醫院

講題二﹕乙型肝炎與我。此講座的時間及地點有待通知。

乙型肝炎是亞裔的無形殺手。請加入我們共同為三藩市無乙型肝炎而努力!


測試地點﹕

米慎區華康
888 Paris街 /Geneva
415-677-2488

日落區華康醫務中心
1800 31st 街 /Noriega
415-677-2388

東華醫院化驗部
845 Jackson街
415-677-2303

Press Release: "Chinese Community Health Plan and Chinese Hospital Jointly Launching a Hepatitis B Campaign for the Chinese Community"

SAN FRANCISCO, May 23, 2008 –Chinese Hospital and Chinese Community Health Plan (CCHP) are teaming up with San Francisco Hepatitis B Frees citywide campaign to make San Francisco into the first Hepatitis B free city in the nation.

According to the Center of Disease Control (CDC), Asians have the highest risk of HBV among all ethnic groups. Hepatitis B is a serious disease responsible for 80% of all liver cancers among Asians. San Francisco has the highest liver cancer rate in the nation. It is estimated that 1 in 10 people in the Asian community have an undiagnosed infection. Asians are up to 100 times more likely to suffer from chronic HBV infection and 4 times more likely to die from liver cancer compared with the general population.

The Chinese Community Health Plan, Chinese Hospital, Excelsior Health Services and Sunset Health Services will offer a comprehensive Hepatitis B awareness program. The goal of this program is to raise the awareness of Hepatitis B among the Chinese community through a multi-media educational campaign, and provide free or low-cost Hepatitis B Testing to the uninsured or underinsured.

Ms. Brenda Yee, CEO of Chinese Hospital said: "Chinese Hospital and CCHP are fully committed to the goals of the SF Hepatitis B Free campaign. And help to eradicate the Hepatitis B virus in San Francisco!"

Dr. Edward Chow, Medical Director of the Chinese Community Health Plan said: “This effort continues our commitment to the community and the City. In 2001, CCHP, its physicians, NICOS Chinese Health Coalition and the Chinatown Public Health Center developed guidelines and promoted professional education and consumer awareness for testing for Hepatitis B through the “B-Wise” project. CCHP was also the first HMO plan in the nation to recognize Hepatitis B testing and vaccination as a plan benefit. We are pleased that there is now a city wide campaign, and we will continue to fully support the “Hepatitis B Free” campaign.”

Ms. Jian Zhang, Director of Excelsior & Sunset Health Services said, “This campaign will provide Screening /Testing, Vaccination, Treatments, Medical follow-ups and Educational classes for the general public which will be conducted in Mandarin and Cantonese. Advance registration is required, public can call (415) 677-2488 for more information.”

Saturday, May 17, 2008

San Francisco Chronicle: "Festival helps fight spread of hepatitis B"






San Francisco Chronicle: "Free blood test for widespread hepatitis B"

May 17, 2008

Anton Qiu plans to roll up his sleeve this morning and have a blood test technician slip a needle into his arm. Within two weeks he will learn whether he is a carrier of hepatitis B, the leading cause of liver cancer in the world.

A quarter century after the first hepatitis B vaccine became commercially available, rates of acute infection with the liver-scarring virus have plummeted in the United States, but the disease remains endemic in Asia - and 1 in 10 of the estimated 10.3 million Asian adults living in the United States are believed to be chronically infected.

About 1 in 4 of those chronically infected people - known as hepatitis B carriers - will eventually die from scarring of their liver tissues, or from liver cancer. San Francisco, where one-third of the population is of Asian descent, has the nation's highest rate of liver cancer.

"I've had cousins and distant relatives who died of this," said Qiu, 48, a real estate investor who came to the United States as a student from Shanghai in 1980.

Today, he'll join at least 1,000 others attending the Asian Heritage Festival in Japantown who are heeding a call from civic leaders in their communities to get tested.

Among those leaders is Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, D-San Francisco, who learned when she was 22 years old that she is a hepatitis B carrier.
The silent epidemic

"In the Asian community, it is taboo to talk about any flaws, to talk about anything health-related," Ma said in a recent interview. "But this is a silent epidemic. You don't have symptoms until it is too late. The more we talk about it, the more we can share stories, and encourage their families and friends to talk about it."

Two-thirds of the estimated 1.25 million hepatitis B carriers in the United States do not know they are infected and are unlikely to find out until they show signs of potentially life-threatening illnesses. Ma was infected at birth, but didn't know she was a carrier until she took a blood test during a job application process.

She was born in the United States, but her parents are from China. Her mother is a hepatitis B carrier, as is her brother. But their youngest sister, born after the vaccine became available, is immune. All in Ma's family remain healthy, and with regular blood testing to find any signs of liver damage, they expect to remain so.

The hepatitis B virus is about 100 times more infectious than HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Like HIV, it can be transmitted sexually, during childbirth or by the sharing of needles. Unlike HIV, it is preventable with a vaccine. It is also treatable.

The hepatitis B vaccine, initially derived from human blood but now produced in yeast through genetic engineering, has the potential to eliminate the disease among the youngest Americans. Since 1991, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that all newborns be vaccinated against the virus, and state law requires it - although parents can seek a waiver to opt out of the requirement.

The vaccine has helped to lower the number of acute hepatitis B infections - a condition marked by fatigue, nausea, abdominal pain and yellowing of the skin and the whites of the eye. In San Francisco, where hepatitis B was circulating among gay men as well as in the Asian community, the rate of new infections has fallen nearly 90 percent since it peaked in 1987.

In addition, treatments using immunoglobulin and vaccine have reduced the risk of mothers transmitting the virus to their babies in childbirth by up to 95 percent, said Dr. Sandra Huang, director of communicable diseases for the San Francisco Department of Public Health.

Tracking and treating chronic hepatitis B infections is a more difficult challenge, because the disease does not reveal itself in most chronic carriers unless and until they become ill. Newborns and children are most susceptible, yet show few if any symptoms of infection. Huang said that, for now, San Francisco health officials can make only a rough estimate that there are 20,000 residents living with chronic hepatitis B infection in the city.

Bay Area concentration

The Bay Area has a high number of hepatitis B chronic infections because the region is a gateway for immigration from China, where an estimated 120 million are carriers. "China alone accounts for 50 percent of liver cancer deaths in the world," said Dr. Samuel So, a surgeon and director of the Asia Liver Center at the Stanford University School of Medicine. "Every day, over 1,000 people in China die of this disease."

So has been working with the federal Office of Minority Health on development of a nationwide strategy to control hepatitis B. Currently, the agency is spending $500,000 of its $50 million annual budget on hepatitis programs for Asians and Pacific Islanders.

"A lot of folks just don't know how important this epidemic is," said Dr. Garth Graham, director of the agency. "Half of the 1.5 million affected in the United States are Asian Americans."

So is also trying to drum up interest at the World Health Organization and other international bodies to develop a comprehensive strategy to roll back this vaccine-preventable disease. Hepatitis B is also a major health problem in Africa, Southeast Asia and India. Worldwide, an estimated 370 million are infected with the virus, and each year 700,000 die of its complications.

If signs of liver disease begin to emerge, there are drugs that can reduce the amount of virus circulating in the bloodstream and tests that can spot liver cancer before tumors become almost invariably lethal.

"A lot of people who are walking around with hepatitis B have a very treatable disease," said Dr. Alex Monto, director of the liver clinic at the VA Medical Center in San Francisco. "There are medications that are quite new and very effective, and a lot of people do not know about them."

Media Advisory: "Biggest One-Day Screening For the Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) - Part of Effort to Make San Francisco the First HBV-Free City in the U.S."

WHAT:
Largest ever single-day screening for the hepatitis B virus (HBV) at the 4th Annual Asian Heritage Street Celebration. The San Francisco Hep B Free program (www.sfhepbfree.org) is providing free screenings for HBV as part of the program’s efforts to eradicate this health epidemic that affects 1/3 of San Francisco residents.

WHO:
Local dignitaries will make remarks about topics including the importance of screening, vaccinating and treating for HBV.

Confirmed speakers include:
Assemblywoman Fiona Ma
, Supervisor Carmen Chu, Senator Leland Yee, Supervisor
Ross Mirkarimi, Assemblyman Mark Leno, District Attorney Kamala Harris and Assessor Phil Ting.


Medical doctors and public health experts will also be available for interviews.


WHEN:

Sat., May 17, 2008, 2:00 p.m.
*Speakers begin at 2:00 p.m. The HBV screening will run from 11:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.


WHERE:

San Francisco
’s Japantown
Post Street between Laguna Street and Fillmore Street


VISUALS:

Phlebotomists screening Bay Area residents for the HBV virus
100,000 attendees, making it one of the biggest celebrations of Asian Pacific American heritage in the U.S., including performing artists and vendors displaying Asian culture and craft

CONTACT:
Christina Kreitzer
Allison & Partners
Christina@allisonpr.com

Office: (415) 277-4924


ATTENTION EDITORS:
Contact Christina for interviews with medical experts and for personal testimonials from patients who have HBV.

ABOUT HBV: Asian and Pacific Islanders (APIs) are disproportionately impacted by Hepatitis B. It is a disease of the liver caused by HBV, a virus often called a “silent killer” because it can cause liver cancer, cirrhosis or liver failure without producing symptoms. One in 10 APIs has an undiagnosed infection. San Francisco has the highest liver cancer rate in the nation and 80% of liver cancer in APIs is caused by HBV. But it’s preventable with a simple vaccine.

Giants vs White Sox: Hep B Free Night

You can help support the SF Hep B Free campaign by purchasing
San Francisco Giants tickets for Saturday, May 17th against the Chicago White Sox. For each ticket purchased $9 will be donated to the SF Hep B Free campaign.


Purchase tickets by calling 415.972.2298, vist sfgiants.com/specialevents
or at the Asian Heritage Street Celebration.


San Francisco Hep B Free is a city-wide campaign to turn San Francisco into the first hepatitis b free city in the nation. This unprecedented 2-year-long campaign will screen, vaccinate and treat all San Francisco Asian and Pacific Islander (API) residents of hepatitis b (HBV) by providing convenient, free or low-cost testing opportunities at partnering health facilities and events.

Where & When
AT&T Park
San Francisco, CA

Saturday, May 17
6:05pm

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

SF Chronicle: "Killers Among Us"

San Francisco - help us make it hep B free now

Awareness campaigns for health issues and social causes are as numerous as tourists at Fisherman's Wharf, and it's hard not to feel awareness campaign fatigue. But one of them has special meaning to me as a California official, an Asian American and a person living with chronic Hepatitis B. May is Hepatitis B awareness month, shining the light on a condition that affects 2 million Americans.

Chronic hepatitis B is a liver disease caused by the hepatitis B virus, a pathogen that is up to 100 times more easily transmitted than HIV. The disease is often called a "silent killer" because it can cause liver cancer, cirrhosis or liver failure without producing symptoms. This may be one reason the Bay Area has the highest liver cancer rate in the nation.

As many as 1 in 10 Asian/Pacific Islanders in America, particularly those from China, Korea and Vietnam, are chronically infected with HBV. This disproportionate impact reflects the high prevalence of the disease in Asia, where HBV immunization is not yet standard practice.

My own experience is typical: I contracted Hepatitis B at birth from my mother, who was born in China, but didn't discover this until I tried to give blood at the age of 22.

In a recent study conducted here in San Francisco, a shocking two-thirds of Asian Americans with chronic Hepatitis B were not aware they were infected. Clearly, we need to ramp up screening efforts in the city, and I am proud to support the "San Francisco Hep B Free" campaign in its unprecedented effort to screen and vaccinate all at risk. Routine screening and vaccination is a critical first step, but there is much more we can do to address HBV, including educating ourselves about this disease.

HBV was once thought only to affect people who had unprotected sex or shared needles. Today we know better - not least is the fact that the virus is often passed from mother to child at birth.

We can also encourage those who are infected to seek treatment. While there is no cure for chronic Hepatitis B, the number of available treatments has grown steadily in recent years. Today, convenient once-a-day medications can help to combat the disease, potentially preventing fatal liver damage. Finally, more should be done to ensure that all people who need treatment actually get it, because the direct and indirect financial burden of chronic Hepatitis in the United States reaches $1 billion annually.

In January 2008, the California Assembly passed Assembly Bill 158, legislation that is vital to increasing access to quality health care for Californians living with HBV. The bill is in the state Senate for approval and I urge its speedy ratification.

This month is an important opportunity to raise awareness of a deadly, but preventable disease. We can wipe out this disease as long as people know to get vaccinated and we treat those already infected. However, it will take more than an awareness month to stop the devastating impact of chronic Hepatitis B. Until viral hepatitis is broadly recognized as a serious public health concern, it will continue to threaten the health of Americans in San Francisco and across the United States.

Free hepatitis B virus screening

One day only
Where: Asian Heritage Street Celebration (Post St. from Laguna to Webster), San Francisco

When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, May 17

Regularly scheduled free screening

Where: Asian Pacific Wellness Center, 730 Polk St., 4th floor. Call (415) 292-3400 for appointment.

When: No fee on Wednesdays and Fridays, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., or on the first Saturday of the month, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Where: UCSF Medical Center at Mount Zion, 2330 Post St, 1st floor. (415) 885-3580.

When: No fee on the first Saturday of each month, 9 a.m. to noon.
Regularly scheduled sliding-scale fee

Where: Chinese Hospital, 845 Jackson St., 1st floor, laboratory. (415) 677-2303.

When: Monday through Saturday, 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

To learn more about San Francisco's efforts, please visit www.sfhepbfree.org and get tested today.

Fiona Ma, a Democrat, represents San Francisco in the state Assembly and is the Assembly majority whip. E-mail comments to forum@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page B - 7 of the San Francisco Chronicle

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/12/EDCI10L2TK.DTL#ixzz0Vq1rFPMm

Korean Times


Monday, May 12, 2008

San Francisco Chronicle: "Killers Among Us: San Francisco - help us make it hep B free now"

By Fiona Ma | San Francisco Chronicle
May 12, 2008

Awareness campaigns for health issues and social causes are as numerous as tourists at Fisherman's Wharf, and it's hard not to feel awareness campaign fatigue. But one of them has special meaning to me as a California official, an Asian American and a person living with chronic Hepatitis B. May is Hepatitis B awareness month, shining the light on a condition that affects 2 million Americans.

Chronic hepatitis B is a liver disease caused by the hepatitis B virus, a pathogen that is up to 100 times more easily transmitted than HIV. The disease is often called a "silent killer" because it can cause liver cancer, cirrhosis or liver failure without producing symptoms. This may be one reason the Bay Area has the highest liver cancer rate in the nation.

As many as 1 in 10 Asian/Pacific Islanders in America, particularly those from China, Korea and Vietnam, are chronically infected with HBV. This disproportionate impact reflects the high prevalence of the disease in Asia, where HBV immunization is not yet standard practice.

My own experience is typical: I contracted Hepatitis B at birth from my mother, who was born in China, but didn't discover this until I tried to give blood at the age of 22.

In a recent study conducted here in San Francisco, a shocking two-thirds of Asian Americans with chronic Hepatitis B were not aware they were infected. Clearly, we need to ramp up screening efforts in the city, and I am proud to support the "San Francisco Hep B Free" campaign in its unprecedented effort to screen and vaccinate all at risk. Routine screening and vaccination is a critical first step, but there is much more we can do to address HBV, including educating ourselves about this disease.

HBV was once thought only to affect people who had unprotected sex or shared needles. Today we know better - not least is the fact that the virus is often passed from mother to child at birth.

We can also encourage those who are infected to seek treatment. While there is no cure for chronic Hepatitis B, the number of available treatments has grown steadily in recent years. Today, convenient once-a-day medications can help to combat the disease, potentially preventing fatal liver damage. Finally, more should be done to ensure that all people who need treatment actually get it, because the direct and indirect financial burden of chronic Hepatitis in the United States reaches $1 billion annually.

In January 2008, the California Assembly passed Assembly Bill 158, legislation that is vital to increasing access to quality health care for Californians living with HBV. The bill is in the state Senate for approval and I urge its speedy ratification.

This month is an important opportunity to raise awareness of a deadly, but preventable disease. We can wipe out this disease as long as people know to get vaccinated and we treat those already infected. However, it will take more than an awareness month to stop the devastating impact of chronic Hepatitis B. Until viral hepatitis is broadly recognized as a serious public health concern, it will continue to threaten the health of Americans in San Francisco and across the United States.
Free hepatitis B virus screening
One day only

Where: Asian Heritage Street Celebration (Post St. from Laguna to Webster), San Francisco

When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday, May 17
Regularly scheduled free screening

Where: Asian Pacific Wellness Center, 730 Polk St., 4th floor. Call (415) 292-3400 for appointment.

When: No fee on Wednesdays and Fridays, 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., or on the first Saturday of the month, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Where: UCSF Medical Center at Mount Zion, 2330 Post St, 1st floor. (415) 885-3580.

When: No fee on the first Saturday of each month, 9 a.m. to noon.
Regularly scheduled sliding-scale fee

Where: Chinese Hospital, 845 Jackson St., 1st floor, laboratory. (415) 677-2303.

When: Monday through Saturday, 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

To learn more about San Francisco's efforts, please visit www.sfhepbfree.org and get tested today.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

AsianWeek: "Rock Out for S.F. Hep B Free Campaign"

By: Peter J. Swing

Calisus, an emerging alternative rock band from Washington, D.C., recently agreed to donate concert proceeds to the S.F. Hep B Free campaign.


Formed in 2005, Calisus includes Chris Nyack on lead vocals and keyboard, Patrick Koch on lead guitar and backing vocals, Kyle Bucklew on drums, and Zach Constable on bass and backing vocals. Their newest album which they are on tour promoting, A New State of Normal, was mastered by Masterdisk's senior mastering engineer Howie Weinberg, who has worked with alternative bands like Soundgarden, Oasis, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins and the Killers.


Calisus sets itself apart from most rock bands with its philanthropic intentions: At every concert, the band supports charitable organizations through public awareness or fund raising.


"We are looking forward to a number of great things during our first tour in California," Koch said during a phone interview. "One of them is our desire to raise awareness for hepatitis B."


Where & When Boom Boom Room
1601 Fillmore
(at Geary)
San Francisco, CA

Tuesday, March 11
9:00pm

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Resolution: Board of Supervisors "Declaring May 10-17, 2008 Hepatitis B Free Week in the City and County of San Francisco"

[Hepatitis B Free Week in San Francisco]

Resolution declaring May 10 – 17, 2008 Hepatitis B Free Week in the City and County of San Francisco.

WHEREAS, Hepatitis B, a disease caused by infection with the hepatitis B virus (HBV), can lead to cirrhosis of the liver, liver failure, and liver cancer; and,

WHEREAS, Over 350 million people in the world are chronically infected with hepatitis B, which takes a life every 30 seconds; and,

WHEREAS, Eighty percent of liver cancer worldwide is caused by HBV infection, with San Francisco showing the highest liver cancer rate in the nation; and,

WHEREAS, With an estimated 1 in 10 people in the Asian Pacific Islander (API) community who have an undiagnosed HBV infection, the SAN FRANCISCO: FREE OF HEPATITIS B campaign aims to screen, vaccinate, and treat all API residents for hepatitis B, and puts San Francisco at the forefront of America in fighting chronic hepatitis; and,

WHEREAS, Hepatitis B is preventable with a vaccine, which provides an easy and effective method for preventing HBV infections and its deadly implications; and,

WHEREAS, All people, including children, adolescents and adults are encouraged to be vaccinated, provided they are not already chronically infected with HBV; and,

WHEREAS, The San Francisco Department of Public Health, Asian Liver Center at Stanford University, AsianWeek Foundation and Assemblywoman Fiona Ma have partnered in bringing awareness to the API community about early detection and prevention of hepatitis B through the unprecedented SAN FRANCISCO: FREE OF HEPATITIS B campaign; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco declares May 10 – 17, 2008 Hepatitis B Free Week in San Francisco.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Press Release: "Giants to Celebrate Asian Cultures & Communities During Asian Heritage Week at AT&T Park"

Giants to Celebrate Asian Cultures & Communities During Asian Heritage Week at AT&T Park
Partnering with AsianWeek and SF Hep B Free Campaign
May 12-17

The Giants will celebrate Asian cultures and communities during Asian Heritage Week at AT&T Park, from May 12 to 17. In partnership with AsianWeek and the SF Hep B Free Campaign, the Giants will hold a number of unique events to highlight the rich traditions and cultures of Bay Area Asian populations.

The Chinese, Korean, Filipino and Japanese communities will each have their own designated night at AT&T Park featuring unique promotional items, special ticket offers, entertainment and educational programs.

The San Francisco: Hep B Free Campaign will be present at each game to educate fans about the importance of testing and vaccinating Asian Pacific Islanders for hepatitis B. Liver cancer presents the greatest health disparity between Asian Americans and Caucasian Americans. Assemblywoman Fiona Ma and Giants Outfielder Dave Roberts will carry this important message in a public service announcement that will be played at the ballpark.

“The Giants are honored to partner with the Bay Area Asian community to make this week possible. The Giants and the Asian communities both share such rich traditions, and we are excited to bring sports and cultural traditions together at AT&T Park,” said Larry Baer, Giants executive vice president and chief operating officer.

Giants alumni Masanori “Mashi” Murakami will also be in attendance for Japanese Heritage Night on Friday, May 16, and will be honored during a pre-game, homeplate ceremony. Murakami pitched two years for the Giants, in 1964 and 1965, becoming the first Japanese native to pitch in the major leagues.

“Asians and Pacific Islanders make up 35 percent of San Francisco’s population. We love baseball, and we love our San Francisco Giants! On a local level this is two of our city’s great traditions coming together. On a global level, it’s another example of why San Francisco is the gateway to the Pacific Rim,” said Ted Fang, editor and publisher of AsianWeek.

A special $20 ticket package is available for each of the heritage games and includes a limited edition giveaway and guaranteed seats in the designated heritage seating sections. Tickets for all events can be purchased by calling (415) 972-2298 or visiting sfgiants.com/specialevents. Following is the list of giveaways (with special ticket purchase):

• Monday, May 12 vs. Houston Astros (7:15 p.m.) – Chinese Heritage Night presented by Kikkoman. Fans with a special ticket will receive a Chinese heritage/SF Giants Baseball Cap.

• Tuesday, May 13 vs. Houston Astros (7:15 p.m.) – Korean Heritage Night. Fans with a special ticket will receive a Korean heritage/Giants t-shirt. Entertainment will feature Claire Lillienthal School Korean Performers.

• Wednesday, May 14 vs. Houston Astros (7:15 p.m.) – Filipino Heritage Night. Fans with a special ticket will receive a Filipino heritage/Giants t-shirt. Entertainment will feature Hiyas Dance Group, SF Barangay and Likhas Pilipino Folk Ensemble.

• Friday, May 16 vs. Chicago White Sox (7:15 p.m.) – Japanese Heritage Night presented by Kikkoman. Fans with a special ticket will receive a limited edition Masanori Murakami bobblehead to commemorate the first-ever Japanese player to become a major league player. Entertainment will feature San Francisco Taiko Dojo.

• Saturday, May 17 vs. Chicago White Sox (6:05 p.m.) -- SF Hep B Free Night.

A $9 donation from each special $20 ticket sold to this game will go toward the SF Hep B Free Campaign.
Contact Us | Copyright 2007-2010. San Francisco Hep B Free Campaign, a project of Community Initiatives, Inc. All Rights Reserved.