More than 40 years ago, tucked into a 600-square-foot basement space in Portland’s Eastmoreland neighborhood, the Asian Health and Service Center first opened its doors.
Board chair Dr. Erik Szeto, a retired family physician, founded AHSC — then called the Chinese Social Service Center — in 1983 in response to a major gap in culturally and linguistically appropriate social and mental health services for Asian communities in Portland, especially seniors, women and immigrants.
It was built at a time when broader conversations around mental health, particularly for Asian and Asian American communities, went largely undiscussed…