Cardiac patient home visit

Day…

We met 2 younger children

There was a young girl who went to the HAF office for help. She knew about us because of the introduction at Đa Nang hospital. She is a student at Đa Nang university. She asked us to help her father get a heart surgery. Her father is 44 year olds and got a severe heart disease. Her mother died 4 years ago. Her parents have 3 children. She is the oldest child and is19 years old, 2 other children still at high school. When her mother was alive, her parents did farming for living. But since her mother death, and father is heart disease, they couldn’t keep up their work. This girl herself has a pituitary gland tumor, too. She usually follows up in Sai Gon hospital by her friends helping. She tutors outside school hours to earn money to cover her living costs in Da Nang. I know this job because I used to do it when I was a student. We only earn 20-30$/ month. When I talked to her, I felt like she is a very energetic girl. And I really didn’t want to make her disappoint. Even though I knew it would be difficult to convince my boss with the case of an over 40-year-old. I just thought that although the father not so healthy after surgery but he can also does a light work and take care of children. More important, he is the only spiritual for kids. She tried her best to borrow 20m for her father surgery. So why can’t we give her hope.

the house is very old now

  The next two days, me and An went to visit their home under heavy rain. Very difficult road to travel and we were quite difficult to find their home. The house was not too bad but it is so old now. They built it when the mother was still alive. We met the father and the 2 younger children. The father was quite tired because of his disease. Our donation for this case will be a 1000$. He hospitalized last week and will have surgery this month. We hope that after his surgery, he will get better soon to take care of his children. 

New Cardiac Patient Home Visit

New cardiac patient

We feel very good that the Hoi An Foundation has helped many people over the last eight years. But, only being here infrequently, I find that I become somewhat insulated from the severe situations that many of our recipients endure daily.

Yesterday we visited a patient whose heart surgery we plan to fund. She lives an hour and a half from Hoi An in an area I would describe as the “country”. Our driver showed his driving skills by avoiding any car damage even though we had to go through about 50 water filled potholes. On every one, you could see his mind churning as he decided to go right, left or the center.

We had trouble finding the home and had to stop and ask questions frequently. As we got closer, people seemed to know the lady with the heart problem. I like that aspect of Vietnamese society - everyone knows their neighbors and they are usually willing to help.

Unfortunately, when we got there, she wasn’t home. This lady has such a severe heart problem that in America, the patient would be confined to their home waiting for surgery. This lady was working in the rice fields, even though she had very little energy and was in fairly constant pain.

The neighbors were able to find her and bring her to us. She looked a little frightened. We were in her mother in law’s house – the four of us, her two brother in laws and about 20 neighbors. Josh and I were probably the only westerners who were in this area in many years.

Patients house build by the government

The family had told us her story – she was 41, a widow, 2 children – both with mental problems, one lived at home, the other in an orphanage in Da Nang. She has a bad kidney problem that has to be fixed before heart surgery. Her home is a very Spartan building. In the west we always divide things into needs and wants. She definitely didn’t have any wants since she barely had any needs. 

She had to work just to live – like many Vietnamese. But because of her condition, she couldn’t work as much as she wanted to. Her husband had died of cancer a few years ago, so her income was all she lived on. Rice field workers don’t make very much.

Talking with the patient and neighbors

It’s hard to see a situation like this and not think about how lucky we are based on one thing –where we were born.

Our donation for the surgery will be a $1,300.  It will allow her to have normal energy again and without constant pain. I’ll write another blog when her surgery is done.

For all the people who donate to the Hoi An Foundation, this is where your money is used. You can definitely know that your funds go a long way here. This lady will not know which ones of you funded her surgery, she will just know that her life is much better.

A blog from a new staff

Day….

6:45am, three of us rode motorbike from Hoi An to go to Binh Tri clinic, Thang Binh District. That was the second clinic for the people who have diabetes and hypertension. The first time we went by car, now we go by motorbike. An drove Quynh, and me by myself. I have to recognize that this time my driving skill gets a lot better because we usually drive long way in very hot weather. Sometimes An jokes that we are like highway heroes. When we just arrived and put the bags down, we met dr Hiep, clinic director. He seemed not satisfied with us. He said that we work with no plan, he not yet knew any information about our work there. We were surprised because his superiors had not informed him. He said that he did not want us to tell him what to do because he is a doctor and we are not. We are very upset. We try to tell him that that is not we mean. We know the protocol better and want to help them to get familiar with the booklets and collecting patients’ info. An almost cried. We finally decided come back Hoi An and will meet his superiors later to talk. But then, after talking the patients and clinic staff, we decided stay to work. We understand that we work because of the benefit of poor people, not for any doctors or us. We explained that we make the plan and send to provincial department of Health and district health Center but for some reasons, they hadn’t sent to the clinic. And the staff had thought we only come to see patients as other charities did before only one time, no following up so they didn’t assign staff to be in charge in this program to manage these patients. Everything finally solved. Dr Hiep even paid for our lunch (3 bowls of noodles and 1 sparkling water).

Day….

6:45 we went to Nam Giang, one of mountainous district of Quang Nam province. I feel familiar here because it is similar to my hometown. It is very hot in the morning. We met clinic staff to collect the information for our hygiene education project. We also came to an ethnic community to see how they live, the people are very friendly there. We took some pictures about their life.

In the afternoon we met the leaders of Nam Giang. I think they are very responsible and principle. I like it. They make us want to work with them rather than in Thang Binh. When we returned in the afternoon, it rained heavily. I even slept soundly in the car. (An did all the driving)

Minority ethnic people in Nam Giang

An and me taking to a villager

Day……….

Quynh and I came to Tam Ky to take part in a communication for a student with HIV. This is the first time I joined in this. I met 2 old people who work for “protection centers for street children” in Da Nang city. I really admire them. Although they are over 60 yo, they still very good in caring for the children with HIV. I wish I can work like them. We attended the flag in Cao Ba Quat high school and acquainted with the student and teachers. The teachers are very good, especially the head master. He is very dedicated with students. He said that all of the teachers decided to donate the money we support them to buy two bikes for poor students (we only support small amount for their time). They made us very happy and touched.

At noon, we went to visit the boy with HIV. The first I met a person has this disease. But I don’t think there is any difference between them and those without disease. He is a sociable and gentle boy. He lives with a big family. And they look very happy.

In the afternoon we attended a talk on HIV by doctor Hai in charge, a good doctor working in ”HIV center”. He is very fun doctor. All of the teachers attended, too. The doctor provided the knowledge on this disease. Before, I knew it with a very vague knowledge. Now I have a better understanding. The speech is not boring as I thought. Everybody very interested in this. We had a day of fun and useful.

Dr Hai talking to school staff and students

Teachers at the school attending a talk on HIV

By Yen Le

New cardiac patient's home vist

It took us more than 2 hrs to get to the patient's house on a motorbike. We had to go over a pass on the way, beautiful view but the road is quite empty. The house is in the remote area far from the main road. The patient (31yo) lives with her husband and 2 children (5 and 2 yo) in a very small cottage with dirt floor, it is not enough to protect them from rain and sun. She had been very fatigue for very long time but had never been to a big hospital for her health checked. Last year she was very sick and got refered to Danang hospital and knew that she has problem with her heart (mitral and tricuspid valve). The sugery costs 60 milion dong (3000 USD). She is not well so she can't work. Her husband does farming and earns 2 million dong a month, just enough for food for 4 people. They haven't got any money yet, just less than 1 million dong contributed from their neighbours (people are poor there so they don't have much to help, some can only help with a few kgs of rice). Her condition is severe and the doctors said she can't wait for more than 2 months.