KC-area nonprofit helps Asian seniors fight isolation with multilingual community

Life can be isolating for seniors, especially when English isn’t their first language. Johnson County nonprofit Fountain of Life aims to change that by providing information about serious topics as well as social opportunities in several different Asian languages.

Founder Jennifer Tung Alexander first noticed the issue when she was helping care for her Taiwanese grandma in 2021.

“It was then when I just saw how isolated she was and kind of depressed. She didn’t have much to do. She was just watching Chinese news on YouTube and doing some coloring,” said Alexander, who is also executive director of Fountain of Life.

She looked around for possible social outlets for her grandma, but “all the programs in the community that were for seniors were in English or Spanish,” Alexander said.

That’s when the idea sparked for Fountain of Life.

“I knew there were others. It wasn’t just about her. There were other older adults with that language barrier,” said Alexander.

It started slowly with line dancing, pickleball and ping pong. They still offer various exercise and arts programs in addition to a variety of field trips to events such as a Kansas City Ballet performance or a tour of Powell Gardens.

“In this society, we need to connect to people, not only (be) at home. At home, we still can watch TV or (do) dancing, reading, but I think communication with other people is more important,” said Grace Tung, Jennifer’s mom and an active Fountain of Life participant.

Now holding programs in two locations, Emmanuel Chinese Baptist Church at 10101 England Drive in Overland Park and the Argentine Community Center at 2810 Metropolitan Ave. in Kansas City, Kansas, the organization has recently gotten grants to expand its healthcare access programming and to provide more transportation services.

Fountain of Life has already offered extensive healthcare learning opportunities. Seminars have covered health conditions prevalent in Asian Americans, plus Medicare, senior housing, dental health and more.

They’ve also held several health fairs with help from the Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association at the University of Kansas School of Medicine. These fairs offer both information and health screenings, checking for issues with things like blood pressure and cholesterol.

A grant Fountain of Life got last year and again this year from Johnson County’s Human Service Fund has helped pay for education about mental health and also subsidized some therapy sessions for participants who couldn’t otherwise see a therapist who speaks their language.

Right now, the organization has social and civic engagement programs as well as healthcare access and navigation programs in Mandarin, Cantonese and Hmong. There are also wellness seminars in Mandarin, Korean and Hmong and counseling and therapy in Mandarin and Korean.

A $30,000 Reach Healthcare Foundation grant is allowing them to expand their healthcare and community resource navigation assistance to include services in Korean, Vietnamese and Burmese.

Seniors who participate in all of these programs have varying levels of English, but even when you speak it well, learning and even just small talk in a second language is more taxing.

“When (we) speak in English, we have to think. … When I’m speaking now, I have to, because this is my second language,” said Yalu Pao, board president of Fountain of Life. “But when I’m speaking Chinese, you don’t have your use your brain. It just pops up. You just say whatever you want to say. You don’t kill your brains.”

Alexander said she’s hoping to both hire employees and find volunteers who are English speakers and also fluent in other Asian languages.

Angela Yang brings her mother-in-law, Christina Yang, from Lee’s Summit to participate in dance programs. Without a ride from Angela, Christina doesn’t have a way to participate, and she doesn’t have the strong Korean community she had when she used to live in Chicago.

Fountain of Life recently received a $25,000 grant from the George Nettleton Foundation to buy a van.

Many others are in a similar situation to Christina Yang. Alexander hopes acquiring a van will help Fountain of Life connect with more seniors through companionship visits to their homes and provide a way for them to get to the organization’s programs.

Someday, she hopes to offer rides to seniors who need to go other places in the community with a driver speaking their language.

For more information about Fountain of Life, visit fountainoflifekc.org.