Reflections

This is my fourth trip to Vietnam and I always have a range of emotions on my visits. The country is very beautiful, the people are friendly to visitors and the food is tasty and interesting. On the other side of my emotions, I am dismayed by the hard life most people live here and their lack of access to medical treatment. I don’t believe that many people in the western industrialized world realize what daily life is like here – work hard, very little chance for advancement and minimal health care.

That is why the efforts being made to improve the daily lives by various foundations are very encouraging. These groups are targeting disabled adults, disabled children, orphans or very disadvantaged children and indigent people with health problems.

You could look at this and, realizing the enormity of these problems around the world, ask “What is going to be changed by these efforts”. I think the answer is very simple. Ask Mrs Hanh how she feels these days. She has suffered from diabetes for a long time. Josh saw her, put her on the right medications and now she feels great for the first time in many years. Or ask Dieu who had a serious heart problem. The Hoi An foundation diagnosed it and paid for the corrective surgery. Dieu would have died within the next year without this surgery.

There are many individual examples of why this work is important. A few very dedicated, selfless people can make a big difference. People who have left the comfort of their home country to live and work here. People who were born here and want to help the less fortunate.

I feel very honored to know some of these people.











Jess Solomon

A Rewarding Experience

" Our experience volunteering for the Hoi An Foundation was definitely one of the highlights of our 5 week trip in Southeast Asia. My fiance, Emmet, who will be starting medical school this upcoming fall, was anxious to do some medically related work in Vietnam. He emailed Josh while we were in the U.S. and immediately got an enthusiastic response. Once in Hoi An, we were able to contact Josh by phone and get instructions on how to rent a motorbike and drive to his house. Along with a nurse from Australia and two translators, we paraded out to the countryside through towns and villages, dodging chickens, dogs and barefoot toddlers for a visit to a clinic in the provinces. The ride there was one of the best parts of the adventure! Once we arrived at the clinic, there were about 30 elderly people waiting anxiously to see a doctor, and it quickly became apparent that this was far too much for one person to handle with limited funds and money for medication. However, Josh got right to work efficiently and with a sense of humor. He had Emmet taking blood pressures and pulses as I jotted down the information on their cards. It was very eye opening to have up- close interaction with so many Central Vietnamese people, many of whom had injuries that were a result of the Vietnam war with the U.S. Josh was kind enough to take the time to let my fiance sit in with him as he consulted each patient so that it could be a hands on learning experience for him. After all of the patients had been seen, we were treated to a delicious lunch riverside by the woman who worked at the clinic year round. They were very warm and grateful for Josh's help.

The following day Emmet went to Josh's house by himself, where by 9 am there was already a line of local people waiting to be seen. Josh tirelessy helped each person and welcomed them into his home. Emmet was most touched by a family who came in with a young girl who had a hole in her heart. Knowing that she had hope because the Hoi An Foundation would help her fund the necessary surgery was proof that they were really doing miraculous work. We are so thankful that we had the chance to work with Josh, and it is clear that this non profit could do so much more for these people if it had greater funding. We wish the Hoi An Foundation and his staff all the best and hope that we can continue to support it in the future."


Merry Christmas, Josh! Hope you're well. Keep up the good work.

Best,
Meg and Emmet

A Long Day...

Today, we sent Nam, his grandma, little girl T. and her mother to hospital in Sai Gon for treatment. Nam, T and mother got HIV. It’s difficult to get them to the plane bcs Nam’s leg hurts and it takes twenty mins to get Nam a wheelchair. The people at the airport told us that Nam couldn’t get on plane bcs he couldn’t walk and grandma wasn’t strong enough to help him. They should help us instead of telling that. Finally, they arrived Sg safely and met the doctors there. They will stay there for long time. We hope both get better soon.

We rode straight from Da nang to Duy Xuyen to see patients at one local clinic which is very far. Thank to Carol and Vu for coming earlier to see patients because we don’t want to make them wait long. And we have a 87 year old patient that had been a farmer for 75 years. That surprised Dr Josh and Carol but most of Vietnamese in the countryside work really hard until they are too weak to work.

Luu Phuoc An

The Elderly in Viet Nam

One of the wonderful parts of our job is working with the elderly in Viet Nam. This country has seen its share of turbulence, turmoil and war. If you are over the age of 70 in Viet Nam, you have lived through things that most of us only read about in textbooks. During an average outreach clinic, we see 5 to 10 people above the age of 80. They all carry themselves with a certain degree of dignity and grace - traits i find amazing given the side of human nature they have been witness to over their lifetime. Their eyes are full of stories - stories i can only guess at given the language barrier and constraints on our time. Many times we are the first doctor they have seen. We are privileged to care for them.

Josh

Symposium

We just held our first symposium for doctors and nurses yesterday. We had 90 people attending and 3 lecturers. Our talks covered management of diabetes and hypertension and we presented our algorithms for treatment in central Viet Nam. We had Dr. Brian Penti from Boston and Dr. Jocelyn Nava from the Philippines helping us with the talks. The symposium went well. We are planning to have them every 2 to 3 months and cover a curriculum of general diseases of adulthood.

Josh

First Week Back

I just arrived to Hoi An this last weekend and started my work week with Dr. Josh and Ms. An. I've only been gone for 6 months, but there's been so much progress. We've established working relationships with the local government offices of several neighboring towns around Hoi An and the Department of Health and have finally begun seeing patients in 34 clinics! We see so many disabled and very poor people, some who have never been to a doctor! It is easy to lose sight of our goals of improving the health care in central Viet Nam, especially with the hoards of patients lining out the door, but it's progress in itself partnering with the local health systems and reaching out to these neglected communities. We also have our first symposium covering diabetes and hypertension with 80 local doctors attending next week. Things are moving fast and it's so exciting to finally see our work having an impact!

Nancy