Tufts Expands Pediatric Asian Clinic to Better Serve Area Families

Tufts Medical Center in Boston has opened an expanded Pediatric Asian clinic that it says will better serve thousands of Asian children and families in the area.

The teaching hospital clinic, which is located on Washington Street in Chinatown, will have seven exam rooms, a large waiting area and will be staffed with two multilingual doctors, two multilingual nurses, and a front desk staff who speak Chinese and other language. It will also have interpreting services available.

Tufts doctor, Haiyun Gong, told the Sampan that the clinic will continue to serve patients who speak Cantonese and Mandarin as well as Vietnamese families and others.  

Around 8.3% of Massachusetts’ population identifies as Asian, or as Asian and another ethnicity, according to the 2020 U.S. Census. The rate is far higher in the Greater Boston area.

“The clinic has been serving the underserved populations – Chinese speaking population for decades,” said Dr. Haiyun Gong.  “So now, we moved to the street level to expand and serve more patients.”

Tracing its roots back to 1997, the idea for Tufts Pediatric Asian Clinic began with Nurse Practitioner Sue Ponte. The previous clinic, however, was less accessible and only had four exam rooms prior to the move to the larger plaza-level space, said Dr. Gong.

“With more exam rooms, we can decrease the wait time and we see patients more quickly,” she said, “and improve patient care.”

The clinic, which plans a grand opening on Jan. 21, offers more than health care in patients’ native languages, said the doctor, who is also an assistant professor of pediatrics. Dr. Gong said the staff is particularly aware of vaccination requirements and schedules in Asian countries such as China, and can readily determine how to get immigrant or visiting children the shots they need.

But another particular area of the clinic’s strength, said the doctor, is awareness around cultural stigmas. These can include misconceptions around autism and attention deficit disorder, or mental illnesses such as depression, she said. It can be common, the pediatrician said, for parents to feel “ashamed” if they suspect their child is autistic or has other neurological or mental health conditions. They might also be unrealistically worried about the side effects of medications to treat ADHD or depression.

A consequence of such stigma, she said, is that parents might avoid diagnoses for their children or delay getting proper treatment. That, in turn, may also increase tension within the family, she said.

But with proper education from culturally sensitive healthcare staff, she said, the families can better help their children. In addition, she said, the staff can help families better navigate the school system for their kids with special needs.

“I believe we serve as a model, where our providers respect the demographic understanding and cultural sensitivities of the population,” said Dr. Gong.