Ruimin Cai isn’t a talkative elder. Many days, he can be found quietly watching his friends play poker at Portsmouth Square, the so-called “living room” of San Francisco’s Chinatown.
“It’s so boring staying at home,” Cai said in Chinese. “I don’t know English. I have so much time.”
As with many older immigrants who moved to this country to reunite with families, language barriers meant Cai had no choice but to give up on assimilating into “mainstream” society. The consequences can be significant: loneliness and social isolation, depression and mental illness.
Every day, dozens of monolingual seniors escape their tiny single-room occupancy (SRO) homes and gather among Portsmouth Square’s benches and tables. They play poker, laughing and talking in their native tongues. They enjoy the feeling of being connected, not neglected.
“Most of us are over 70 or even 80 years old,” Cai said. “Except for two meals a day, this is what we are doing.”
Banding together for a brief relief from isolation, Cai and his poker buddies stand out among Chinatown’s large population of seniors. As the alleged assailants in two recent mass shootings are older Asian men, advocates are now shedding light on this often ignored and vulnerable community’s mental health needs.
Rudy Kao, a retired mental health counselor focusing on Chinese American immigrants, said the stigma surrounding mental illness in the Chinese community has pushed many families away from seeking help.
“Chinese people are afraid of talking about mental health, depression, et cetera,” Gao said.
Isolation and feelings of loneliness may develop into desperation, which can lead to violent behaviors.
Read more at SFStandard.com.
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