VHC 2010 Newsletter - Vietnam Health Clinic

VIETNAM HEALTH CLINIC
2010
2010
MISSION STATEMENT
Vietnam Health Clinic (VHC) is a student-led non-profit
organization dedicated to improving healthcare services
and access to the underserved populations of Vietnam,
while providing a hands-on learning opportunity for our
pre-health student volunteers.
Functioning under a mobile clinic infrastructure, we strive
to provide free basic medical treatment for patients living
in rural areas of Vietnam that have little or no access to
healthcare services. For many of the villages that we try to
visit, some of the most basic and advanced health facilities
are up to three hours away.
With the continued support and efforts from our
generous sponsors, student and health professional
volunteers,VHC's immediate goals are to plan and
implement annual health mission trips to the underserved
villages of Vietnam, and to utilize what we have in terms of
limited medicine and medical supplies to deliver quality
healthcare and treatment to patients suffering from
common diseases such as rheumatism, acute respiratory
infections, diarrhea, and allergies.
VHC understands the limitations that come with a mobile
health clinic, that is why we also stress the importance of
providing a sustainable healthcare model for the underresourced communities in Vietnam. Since our inaugural
trip in 2009, efforts in this area have been focused on
collaborating with local health professionals and medical
students in Vietnam in a joint effort to minimize health
disparities as well as on donating what we have left over
of medicine and medical supplies to local clinics and
pharmacies.
Our organization is fostering an on-going system of
healthcare for our patients rather than a short-term one
that normally accompanies a mobile brigade. In addition,
we also encourage health education for our patients. This
is done through the distribution of disease prevention
information to our patients (i.e. informing them of the
negative impacts that smoking has on the lungs, promoting
healthy eating habits, and the necessity of having good
personal hygiene and sanitation habits). UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Dear VHC’s Friends and Supporters,
We thank you for your support the past
two years by believing in our ability to
carry out our vision. Without it, we
could not have helped the thousands of
people who live in impoverished villages
of Vietnam. We were able to continually
educate students and health
professionals in many aspects of crossborder health care, where compassion
and respect come before dispensing
medicine.
Since our inaugural trip, we more than
doubled our service capacity, providing
care for 1800 patients in 2010
compared to 800 in 2009.
Our mission is to bridge the healthcare
disparities in rural villages of Vietnam.
We will achieve this by providing
education about the inequalities of
healthcare within the under-served
communities in Vietnam. Although our
current effort as a short-term mobile
clinic has yet to make a significant
impact to improve the healthcare
disparities, the overall effect is paving
the way for our ultimate goal of
providing long-term primary care. We
hope to achieve this by becoming a
more stationary clinic, with a strong
foundation in sustainability and
continuation of services and medicines.
A patient prepares to have her blood pressure
taken at the Triage Station by two volunteers
This past summer, we were fortunate
enough to collaborate with a local
organization, Friends of Hue Foundation
(FHF), who helped us secure three days
of clinic and orphanage visits in Central
Vietnam. The partnership with FHF will
ensure that the critical follow up on
examined patients will be performed.
Our trip was not without
complications, although we were not
able to provide service in Soc Trang, we
shifted our efforts to Long Khanh and
Hoc Mon.
Every clinic day is different by the
degree of people, space, and weather.
Our volunteers worked in limited
spaces to set up triage, consultation, and
pharmacy. The majority of our medicine
was purchased in Vietnam to ensure
that patients would be able to obtain
the medication in the case that they run
out.
We count on your continuing support
as we go forward with another trip in
summer 2011.
Sincerely,
Hong-Yen Chau
President 2009-10
Advisor 2011
2010 BOARD MEMBERS
President: Hong-Yen Chau
Advisor: Scott Fung
Logistics: Danh Ngo
Secretary: Thao Tran
Information Tech: Bryan Ho
Outreach Coordinator: Quynh-An Le
HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
UNITED STATES
William Gould, M.D.
Romeo Puzon, M.D.
Michael Chung, M.D.
Mehrdad Mark Ferdowsian, D.O.
Jennifer Nguyen, PharmD.
Khoi Ha, PharmD.
Phong Dang, D.D.S.
Kim Chi Vu, D.D.S.
Lillian Nguyen, P.A.
Tuyet Nguyen, P.A.
Gigi Chau, RN
Quoc Ho, Medical Student
Jessica Moseley, Medical Student
VIETNAM
My Linh Nguyen, M.D.
Trang Truong, Lab Scientist
Bryan Ho
President 2011
Pharmacist Jennifer Nguyen
prepares a prescription at the
Pharmacy Station while a volunteer
fills medicine from the intake form
A volunteer consults a patient on her medication
at the Pharmacy Consultation Station
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE
PATIENT STATISTICS
This year, VHC held six days of
clinic and saw over 1800
patients in the villages of An
Hoa, Tinh Duc,Vinh Hai and
Quang Tho near Hue; and in
Hoc Mon and Xuan Loc near
Long Khanh.
The patient statistics from the
central regions near Hue and
the southern regions near Long
Khanh show that the majority
of our geriatric patients in
these rural areas suffer from
chronic pain conditions that
stemmed from life-long
farming. The patients received
30 to 60 days of pain
medication supplies, depending
on the severity of their
condition. For the general
patient, many also suffered
from diabetes due to poor
diets. Multivitamins and dairy
products were also given to
the malnourished patients.
Children also received these
supplements in addition to
notebooks and stationary for
school use.
Aside from our primary
component,VHC also received
a large number of patients who
required dental care; most of
these patients received teeth
cleaning, fluoride treatments,
and tooth extractions, if
needed. VHC also visited many
orphanages around the central Note: the unknown data is mostly attributed to the older
demographics, as many could not remember their own age.
and southern regions on offclinic days. At these sites, we
donated toys and basic school
supplies to the children.
Due to an unfortunate event,
we were not able to visit our
most in-need patients in Soc
Trang. The resources allocated
to this region were instead
donated to local organizations
for distribution. These
resources included rice bags,
multivitamins, antibiotics as
well as notebooks and
stationary for the children.
2 Weeks 6 Mobile Clinics
8 Villages
13 Health Professionals
29 Volunteers
1865 Patients Served
FINANCIAL DATA
This graphical pie chart summarizes VHC's fiscal distributions for
the 2010 trip. As a non-profit organization, we strive to keep our
operational costs low in order to efficiently use our donor's
contributions and to maximize our aid efforts in the under
served areas of Vietnam. The majority of donor's contributions
are directly used to purchase medicine and gifts for our patients
or used as donations to orphanages and elderly shelters. Doctor Phong Dang cleans the teeth
of a patient at the Dental Station
A volunteer measures the
blood pressure of an elderly
patient in Long Khanh
Patient’s enlisting their health concerns as
volunteers fill out intake forms at the Intake
Station
Dr. Romeo Puzon checks
a patient’s vitals before
beginning his consultation
at the Doctor
Consultation Station
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE
VHC would like to thank our community sponsors for 2010:
Gạch Nối Student Magazine from the University of California San Diego
The Vo Family
8831 South M Street
Tacoma, WA 98444
Valley Harvest International Market
Phone: 206.659.7497
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: VNHealth.org
FUNDRAISING
For our second year, VHC can't thank our community and generous sponsors enough
for their support of our fundraising efforts. Earlier this year, our team of student volunteers brought a small part of our
community together for an evening of good food and live entertainment at our Hay
Nho Benefit Auction and Dinner at the New Hong Kong Restaurant in Seattle. The
night opened up with a fun and stimulating lion dance, followed by traditional
Vietnamese dance and song performances, and a display of arts and handicrafts in our
silent and live auction line-ups. The evening was a great success. Thanks to our dinner
sponsors and guests, VHC was able to meet a third of our annual fundraising goal in a
single night!
Along with our benefit dinner, we were fortunate enough to partner with the YES
Foundation of White Center as well as the Boys & Girls Club’s Southwest Branch to
host our first annual Charity Basketball Tournament. We had over a hundred
participants as well as a handful of spectators throughout the day long event. The
tournament was a success and we look forward to the 2nd annual tournament this
coming Spring!
In addition we were also supported by various restaurants and local businesses in the
Seattle area.VHC would like to take this opportunity to thank:
Cafe Metropolitan, who enthusiastically hosted a fun night of music, dancing, and
drinks in which the proceeds of the ticket and selection of drink sales were donated
to VHC.
Papaya Vietnamese Cafe at the Renton Landing for offering up their restaurant venue
for our volunteers to advertise, and for generously donating a percentage of their
weekend register sales to VHC.
Upcoming Events:
As we are prepare for our
next trip,VHC 2011 would
like to ask for your continued
charitable support. We invite
you to join us for our
upcoming annual Benefit
Dinner as well as our 2nd
Annual Basketball
Tournament. Aside from our
two main events, we will have
many more functions and
opportunities for you to
participate in the coming
months leading up to our trip!
Please check our Events Page
at www.vnhealth.org, for the
most up-to-date information.
The 2010 VHC Volunteers
PA Lillian Nguyen and Nurse Gigi Chau ask
questions about a patients history before
examining at the Consultation Station
“The best part of the trip was to be
surrounded by such hard working, dedicated,
giving, and compassionate individuals.”
UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE

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