PASSi was established in April 2004 as the Korean American Senior Services of Pennsylvania (KASSP) by Im Ja Choi, the current Executive Director. Based on her experience caring for her then 88-year-old mother who had stomach cancer, Ms. Choi identified an urgent need for Korean speaking Home Health Aides. At that time, the State of Pennsylvania lacked a home health agency capable of providing home health aide training in Korean. To bridge this gap and enable other seniors to receive care in an Asian language, Ms. Choi created an agency to cater to the specific needs of frail Korean seniors.
In December 2005, realizing that other Asian American seniors faced similar gaps in available homecare services, the Board of Directors decided to expand the program to all Asian American communities and changed the agency name to Penn Asian Senior Services. PASSi is now the largest home care agency in the state of Pennsylvania specializing in the care of English limited Asian seniors. In 2010 PASSi provided care for 255 frail low income clients in Philadelphia, Montgomery, and Delaware counties through the home health care, Personal Assistance Service and Attendant Care Programs.
In 2007, PASSi became the 4th agency in the Greater Philadelphia region to obtain an ACT 150 license. Through the ACT 150 Personal Assistance Service (PAS) and Attendant Care (AC) Programs, qualified elderly and disabled adult clients are empowered to select their own caregiver, who may be a family member. In July 2009 PASSi obtained a Mental Retardation Service license, allowing services to clients with intellectual disabilities.
PASSi currently provides community based culturally sensitive and linguistically appropriate in-home health care services to low-income elderly and disabled adult Asian Americans who reside in the greater Philadelphia metro area. In each case, our clients are ailing, disabled and disadvantaged by cultural and language barriers. Through these services, vulnerable members of Asian American communities have the opportunity to maintain healthy, dignified, independent lives and prevent premature admissions to nursing home care. For their families, this service provides peace of mind and respite from the need to fulfill filial obligations to care for elderly parents and disabled adults at all costs.