Registration is required through Wisline, http://www.uwex.edu/ics/wlreg/wlwelcome.cfm.



Thursday, February 28, noon to 1 p.m. (CST)

Presenters: Shiva Bidar-Sielaff, Director, Community Partnerships, Interpreter Services, UW Hospital & Clinics
and
Thai Vue, Executive Director, La Crosse Area Hmong Mutual Assistance Association

Shiva Bidar-Sielaff, presentation PowerPoint

Thai Vue, presentation PowerPoint

Bio: Shiva Bidar-Sielaff
Shiva Bidar-Sielaff is the Director of Community Partnerships at the University of Wisconsin Hospital & Clinics. Ms. Bidar-Sielaff has been instrumental in the development of language access policies and practices in Dane County, Wisconsin. She is the Vice-Chair of the Dane County Latino Health Council. On a national level, she has worked extensively on issues of equal access to health care for limited English proficient individuals. She is on the Board of National Council on Interpreting in Health Care and the Co-chair of its Standards, Training and Certification Committee. Ms. Bidar-Sielaff was awarded the Dane County Public Health Leadership Award for Multicultural Health Care in 2000 and is the 2005 recipient of the Madison YWCA Woman of Distinction Award for her work in fighting inequality and eliminating racism.

Ms. Bidar-Sielaff obtained her B.A. from the School of Interpreters, University of Hainaut, Belgium, and her M.A. from the Monterey Institute of International Studies, California.

Bio: Thai Vue
Thai Vue is the Executive Director of the La Crosse Area Hmong Mutual Assistance Association, Inc. (HMAA), an agency that provides services to the 4,000 refugees and former refugees in the La Crosse area. He was also the administrator for the Wisconsin United Coalition of Mutual Assistance Associations, Inc., a coalition of the 17 mutual assistance associations that serve about 55,000 refugees and former refugees in Wisconsin, from 2000-2004.

Thai Vue was elected to the La Crosse School District Board of Education in 1993 and served a three-year term. His other past and present board or committee involvement includes the appointment by Gov. Tommy G. Thompson to the Wisconsin Equal Rights Council, appointment to the Wisconsin State Public Health Council by Gov. James Doyle, and the Chancellor's Community Council of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Thai Vue also served on the Wisconsin tobacco disparity planning team, the Wisconsin cancer control committee, and currently is a board member of the Workforce Development Board, Inc. Thai is a member of the La Crosse Downtown Rotary Club and a Paul Harris member as well as an International Who's Who (2000) member.

Thai Vue is a Hmong political refugee from Laos and arrived in the United States in 1979. Like most of the refugees, he started working a few weeks after arriving. He attended ESL to get his GED and went on his training path. He received his Associate Degree in Computer Programming from Western Technical College in 1985 and joined the HMAA in 1986. He has worked and lived in La Crosse County since 1983. He is actively involved in the betterment of community at the local, state, and federal levels. He is grateful for the opportunity to have become a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1986.

Thai Vue can be reached at the La Crosse Area Hmong Mutual Assistance Association, Inc., (608) 781-5744, e-mail: tvue.laxhmaa@centurytel.net..