Girl gets blood pressure checked by Project Vietnam Foundation member. Photo by Oscar Romero/Daily Titan Staff Writer
Jonathan Thanh Le recalled as a young boy hearing of Dr. Kieu’s prominence among the Vietnamese community from family members and friends. He often felt her presence whenever he attended church. Le also recalled reading in the Orange County Register about the doctor’s organization and its involvement in providing medical aid to the needy people of Vietnam.
“I told myself ‘when I grow up, I’m going to go with them,’” 21-year-old Le said as he sat in the humid rooftop café in Ben Tre, Vietnam. “Since I just graduated college, first opportunity, I went.”
Le was a member of the non-medical volunteers of Project Vietnam, a non-profit organization that dedicate themselves to offering medical support to rural villages in Vietnam every year.
This spring, experts in dental, primary care, surgery and optometry made a voyage across the world and traveled to distinct poverty- stricken villages across Southern Vietnam in dire need of medical service.
“Our people, they struggle a lot. You got the opportunity to come back, and since we are more fortunate, we help them,” said Le who is of Vietnamese descent.
In five days, the organization was able to help 2,272 patients through primary care, 1,335 with dental and 61 through surgery, bringing their total to 3,668 patients treated.
To coordinate such a large-scale undertaking, in a limited amount of time, all the members have to be in sync and leave no task undone.
But with all commotion in a day of work, the group often overlooked is the non-medical volunteers. This group does all the tedious, muscular and essential tasks that let doctors provide the best care possible to the patients. They laid the foundation that help ran the mission in a proficient manner.
“(The non-medical volunteers) are very bright, very helpful, very energetic, they want to learn and they find it kind of interesting so they have been a pleasure to work with, ” Julie Ann Wagner said, leader of the vital signs group. “I have been so impressed by who is here.”
Many non-medical volunteers emanated from numerous parts of the world and joined together for a common cause. Workers came together for a week from Vietnam, United States, and as far as Peru, with different fields of expertise.
“Whether it’s finance, medical, sales or whatever, we have a common purpose and we work together as if we have known each other,” said Le.
The group did a wide array of tasks that were necessary in facilitating the maximum numbers of patients who desperately sought health care. Some of the duties were demanding, but were completed in a full and quick effort by the volunteers nonetheless.
“There is so much work that goes into it that has nothing to do with medicine,” said Wagner. “It lets the medical team do what they are here to do.”
Coordinating, guiding, truck and bus driving, traffic controlling, translating, medicine preparing, screening, registering, utensil sterilizing, and tracking were chores delegated to the non- medical staff.
Even before the day of work began, non-medical volunteers began making a presence in the joint humanitarian cause. Truck drivers began loading their vehicles with medical supplies that were going to last the entire day. Dental equipment, medications and gifts were immediately, safely packed and loaded for the mission.
As the supplies ventured towards their destination, the teams traveled to the same locations in two coach buses. It was the bus drivers that commanded this task and executed them exceptionally as every team made it to the site safely and on time. With the tempestuous Vietnamese traffic and primitive roads, this task proved to be quite demanding.
Upon arrival, the set-up process was expeditious, as time for breaks was unfeasible. Teamwork was imperative and embedded in the mind of every helper. Human chains formed from vehicles to the site with supplies flowing from hand to hand like a smooth conveyer belt. The systems of stations were arranged to provide a logical path patients can traverse.
Among the many tasks entrusted in the hands of the non-medical volunteers, translators performed one of the more essential duties. Translators screened patients to uncover their medical history in order to give doctors a better understanding of their situation.
The non-Vietnamese speaking doctors profoundly relied on translators to decipher the language, as translators were the mediators between the doctors and the village dwellers. Any loss in translation could have resulted in detrimental repercussions since medicine is responsible for human life.
But Le, a Cal State Fullerton graduate in finance, did more than just translate for those five days. His duties were needed by the various extensions within the primary care team. He carried children around while their parents receive the care. He even handled custodial duties.
As the rancid stench of vomit filled the air in the room, Le was ready with paper towels at hand, scooping up remnants left behind by the patients.
“He loves the children, he loves the old people and he is willing to do anything,” articulated Wagner about Le.
After his service with the primary care team in Ben Tre, Le anticipated an expedition to other Vietnamese pastoral villages to continue his charitable work by testing the water quality of those locations.
Non-medical volunteers accomplished other jobs as well. Guides led the lost villagers to the corresponding station, and held hands with the elderly as they walked.
Other volunteers had the good fortune to connect at a personal level with the patients as they dealt with their vitals.
Non-medical volunteers did more than just the minimal duties. In the case of the Tran Pham brothers, Tom, Joe and Paul, they commanded the entire dental team as they treated the mouths of 1,335 registered Vietnamese citizens.
Tom and Paul are engineers in the United States; nevertheless their service in Vietnam was of considerable significance.
The brothers coordinated the daily agenda for the dental group, making sure the quota of patients was met on a daily basis. They kept track of the supplies making sure the services they bestowed were on par for every patient treated.
They managed the figures and monitored medical instruments, removing another burden off the medical staff’s shoulder. In addition, Tom continuously inculcated in the volunteer’s mind, the importance of the mission and to always exert the best effort.
According to Tom, after his services with the dental team, he was going to make beeline for the Vietnamese-Cambodian border to ration the remainder of the medication to another underprivileged village.
Many of the volunteers extended their services beyond their appointed team and accommodated the needs of the others.
That was the case for Richard Do Nguyen who divided his services between two medical fields, offering a hand wherever the mission required it.
He originally came on the mission to assist his aunt, Dr. Lylan Do, the only optometrist with the organization. Nguyen assumed the responsibility of conducting eye exams on the oncoming villagers, making the optometric work easier for his aunt.
The 24-year-old also facilitated the dental team by contributing with an indispensable extra pair of hands.
“I transferred the dirty equipment to the sterilization process, and I transferred the clean equipment back to the dental office,” said Nguyen. “I also mixed the mercury for the fillings.”
After five days of hefty, good-natured work, the volunteers found themselves in Ho Chi Minh City, soaking up the tourist aspect of Vietnam.
Many realized the importance of their humanitarian work and acknowledge the special bond developed by the workers.
“I feel a certain kinship with (non-medical volunteers). We are all in this together,” said Wagner.
As they tugged on the volunteers’ shirts and bowed their heads in a thankful gesture, villagers walking by sent their praise. Undoubtedly, the impact made on the Vietnamese was obvious to everyone.
“We reached out to communities that wouldn’t have had this kind of help,” Nguyen said.
