Amy Chin Guen, MSW 鈥�52, H 鈥�17
On a raw spring day, Amy Chin Guen, MSW 鈥�52, H 鈥�17, arrives, cane tapping, past a noisy construction site and into the lunchtime clatter of the Hei La Moon, a sprawling dim sum restaurant a block from Boston鈥檚 Chinatown Gate. She makes her way to a far table, weaving by waitstaff pushing steam carts of dumplings, chicken feet, dim sum, and buns.
Guen is there to meet Boston College School of Social Work (香蕉秀SSW) Dean and Professor Gautam N. Yadama, who has helped her to organize a lunch with current 香蕉秀SSW students, a recent 香蕉秀SSW alumna, and several other social workers working in Chinatown. The topic of the gathering: Guen鈥檚 pioneering career as a social worker and activist and the evolving needs of the city鈥檚 Chinese American community.
鈥淚 like to hear what the young people are doing,鈥� says the 95-year-old Guen, taking a seat along a wall dominated by golden Chinese calligraphy characters, which translate to 鈥渂lessing,鈥� 鈥渓ongevity,鈥� and 鈥減rosperity.鈥� She pulls her 香蕉秀SSW graduation class photo from her tote bag and shares it with the students as they arrive. 鈥淲e had 46 students,鈥� Guen tells them, 鈥渂ut only 39 graduated.鈥�
Sixty-seven years later, Guen is a well-recognized and deeply respected figure in Chinatown, where her family has lived since 1885. Known as 鈥淎untie Amy鈥� in the community, she has fought for culturally and linguistically sensitive health care and advocated for the betterment of the neighborhood. In 2016, Guen was honored with the Chinese Historical Society of New England鈥檚 Sojourner Award for her contributions to improving health care in Chinatown; a year later, she received an honorary doctorate from Boston College in recognition of her community activism.
Yadama, who speaks often with Guen, tells the group their hope is that attendees will enjoy 鈥済ood dim sum and good conversation.鈥� Around the table are Jenny Chiang, MSW 鈥�17, who specialized in macro social work and is now the executive director of the , and three clinical students: Muling Cai, MSW 鈥�19, and Xiyue (Leslie) Zhai, MSW 鈥�20, recent interns at the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, and Hannah Fitzsimons, MSW 鈥�20, who interned at the Josiah Quincy Upper School, a Boston Public School in Chinatown.
Rounding out the group are Agatha Tong, MSW 鈥�93, social worker and field placement supervisor at the Josiah Quincy; Mary Chin, chief executive officer of the ; and Perrie Mo, Asian program coordinator and hospice social worker for in Newton.
Guen listens as a student shares her thoughts.
Over baskets of dumplings and pots of tea, Guen opens the conversation by speaking about the very different education that social workers received in the 1950s at Boston College. A medical social work major鈥攐ne of four concentrations offered then鈥攕he explains how Boston鈥檚 many hospitals frequently doubled as 香蕉秀SSW鈥檚 classrooms. Her weekly four-hour Medical Information course, for example, was held at the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital (now Brigham and Women鈥檚) and taught by a professor who was a medical doctor. Students had to understand, she adds, 鈥渢he social implications鈥� of different diagnoses such as cancer, stroke, and heart disease鈥攏ot only for patients but also for each family member involved in the patient鈥檚 care. A similarly structured course, Psychiatric Information, took place at Boston State Hospital, a psychiatric facility.
As part of these courses, Guen reports, students were rigorously trained in interviewing methods. While the professor and a multidisciplinary team interviewed patients at the bedside or in the clinic, the students observed and took notes. 鈥淜nowing how to use information,鈥� she says, 鈥渨as very important in my 香蕉秀 days.鈥�
Guen completed her field placements at Catholic Charities of Boston and Massachusetts Memorial Hospital (now Boston Medical Center), where she handled cases across different medical specialties.
Yet not all social workers entered the field with the same preparation. 鈥淢any people,鈥� she says, 鈥渙nly had a high school certificate.鈥� As a member of the first social work licensing committee in Massachusetts in the early 1970s, Guen worked with the state legislature to better define the profession and to establish clinical practice requirements. After seven years, she says, 鈥渨e finally negotiated.鈥� The state created three social work licenses based on education level, including a 鈥渃ase aide鈥� license for professionals with associate degrees.
While director of social service at Youville Hospital in Cambridge (now Spaulding Hospital), where she worked for 22 years, Guen also served on the board of New England Medical Center (now Tufts Medical Center)鈥攁 role that proved pivotal for her most visible accomplishments. Fluent in English, Cantonese, Mandarin, and Toisanese, she implored the hospital to hire Chinese-speaking health care professionals鈥斺�渟ocial workers, nurses, anybody,鈥� she says鈥攖o better serve the needs of patients in nearby Chinatown. At the same time, she gained extensive knowledge of hospital management; so much so that she decided, with civil rights attorney and activist Caroline Chang, who also grew up in Chinatown, to join a task force forming to build a new health center for the community.
In 1973, Guen and Chang co-founded the on South Street, where it still stands, just around the corner from the Hei La Moon. For the first time, residents of Chinatown could receive health care from providers who knew their language and culture. Today, South Cove runs five clinics and an after-school program in the Greater Boston area, serving approximately 32,000 people annually, according to its website. It is the largest Asian community health center in Massachusetts.
鈥淭his is what you can do when you get into the board level,鈥� Guen tells the group.
Dean Gautam Yadama joins the group discussion.
In the next decade, Guen oversaw the construction of , a nursing home designed to serve Chinese-speaking elders who at the time had no other long-term care options in Boston. It, too, took years to establish鈥擥uen reports that seven years of fundraising passed before her team could even break ground. 鈥淎 lot of people gave up and did not want to support my dream anymore,鈥� she says. Yet the facility finally opened in 1985 on 120 Shawmut Avenue. Five years ago, it moved to a new $33.7 million building in Quincy Point, which U.S. census data indicates has the largest population of Asian residents in the state. 听
A graduate of Regis College, Guen was also involved in the establishment of several nonprofits, including the Chinese American Civic Association (now the Asian American Civic Association) and the , which offers a range of programs and services to the area鈥檚 elderly Asian community. In addition, she became an early advocate for hospice care in Massachusetts.
Guen鈥檚 experience sparks a range of conversation topics among the group鈥攖he current state of bilingual social work, the need to increase voter turnout in Chinatown, the ongoing struggle to define social work鈥檚 role on multidisciplinary teams. 香蕉秀SSW students Cai, who is from the city of Changsha in Hunan province, and Zhai, who grew up in Beijing, also talk about the different approach to social work in China, where, says Zhai, 鈥渢he focus is more on social welfare.鈥�
Threaded throughout the discussion is an emphasis on the importance of on-the-ground community organizing and activism as well as macro social work鈥攚hich Yadama describes as 鈥渢he roots of our profession.鈥� Guen, for instance, speaks of trying to better engage state legislators who attend festivals in Chinatown but not community meetings. She and Chin are also working with the City of Boston to improve the cleanliness of the neighborhood鈥檚 streets.
鈥淲e have to mobilize ourselves and make our own changes,鈥� says Chin, prompting a nod and smile from Guen across the table. 鈥淚t鈥檚 up to us. Amy鈥檚 been doing this her whole life and now it鈥檚 becoming my whole life.鈥�
While the group finishes dessert, Guen asks Chin to hand out the latest issue of Sampan, the bilingual Chinese American newspaper that the Asian American Civic Association has published since 1972. Chin has brought a stack at Guen鈥檚 request.
鈥淵ou should be so proud that you chose the right profession,鈥� says Guen to the group. 鈥淥nce you become a social worker, there is plenty of work for you to do.鈥�
As if to illustrate this point, Guen is not done for the day. Several lunch attendees join her for the two-block walk to the South Cove Community Health Center for a presentation by Catherine Vuky, director of the center鈥檚 behavioral health services. Past a beeping dump truck, over plywood boards and broken sidewalk, and around orange traffic cones, Guen leads the way, cane tapping.
香蕉秀SSW Class of 1952
Photography by Tim Correira
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