T - 36 hours and counting!

Hello everyone!  Please support us, Jen England, Myhanh Nguyen, Allan Poon, Danielle Dao, Kevin Pham, Kimmie Nguyen and Elaine Thao Duong.  We are Project Vietnam Foundation (PVNF) San Jose Team.  From 2/27/16 to 3/5/16 we will be joining Project Vietnam Foundation's Spring 2016 surgery team to provide cleft lip and palate repairs for needy children in Vietnam.   All tax deductible dontions will go to Project Vietnam Foundation for medication, medical supplies, equipment, in addition transportation, boarding, and food for our patients and their family during the recovery process.  All volunteers donate their time, skills, airline tickets, transportation, room and boarding expenses for the trip.  

Since 1995,  volunteers  donated their skills every March and November on medical missions to help restore the smiles and change the lives of over 1,770 Vietnamese children with birth deformities, from cleft lips and palates to eye defects to reconstructive and plastic surgery. Cleft lips and palates are not only a cosmetic issue. These deformites cause significant issues with eating, speech, hearing, and early childhood developement.

A little bit about the team members:
 
Kimmie Nguyen is an ADN graduate from Fresno City College. She grew up in the Bay Area, but is currently working as a subacute nurse in Fresno. She is in the process of completing her BSN at Western Governors University.
"I first heard about Project Vietnam about 4 years ago when I was watching the commercial on the Viet channel. Growing up I would always hear stories about Vietnam and helping those in need. I've always wanted to go, but never got the chance to. I waited until I finished the nursing program to volunteer and it was the perfect opportunity to visit Vietnam. It's been a year since I received my license and it has been a pretty tough year as a new grad, but I am willing to learn from new experiences. This will be my first medical mission and my first time going to Vietnam. I could only imagine the kind of reward it will be serving those in my native country. I'm pretty excited to go on this trip!"

Elaine Thao Duong
Elaine is a BSN graduate of San Jose State University and currently working at Valley Medical Center.   Elain's thoughts about this mission:
          " I firmly believe that each and every one of us has the capacity to make an impact on other people's lives when we chose to open our hearts and extend our hand.
Every one of us has a special gift of love to share with the world. We can always reach out to people in need no matter who we are, where we are and in any situation.
         I look forward to the physical and emotional transformation we will all be able to provide to every child’s life; changing one smile at a time, and family who eagerly waiting for us. Their self-esteem will be revived and will give them the courage to face life's challenges. Their futures will be much brighter along with their improved smiles. They can feel more comfortable going to school and in public places without the profound feeling of embarrassment for being different. They will be given the opportunity to be treated with love, fairness and dignity by others but, most importantly, we will be giving them the opportunity to positively change their lives forever. This is my dream to help changing one smile at a time…."

Dr. Alan Poon is an anesthesiologist practicing in San Jose. Dr. Poon completed his anesthesiology residency at University of Michigan. Here's Dr. Poon 's thoughts about joining PVNF's surgical mission: 
"I have been on medical missions before, but this will be my first time in Vietnam. I am excited to help PVNF provide life-changing care to underserved children. On a personal level, I also look forward to learning about the culture and health care infrastructure of Vietnam, and for broadening my own personal and professional horizons with like-minded health care providers."

Danielle Dao is an operating room nurse working in San Jose. Danielle completed her BSN at San Jose State. Here's Danielle's thoughts about joining this mission: "Being the first member in my family to graduate college and being medical professional, Project Vietnam is an organization that hits close to home . My family and I escaped from Vietnam during the war after facing years of hardship and poverty . The experience I gained through my nursing career has made me want to give back to my roots/home .
I would like to dedicate this mission in honor of my sister Tuong Dao. Tuong was born with cleft lip and palate . With limited resources and finances , my sister was granted with the blessing of having the surgery done here in the states .
Nothing short of a blessing, I have seen first hand what this surgery can do for one person , physically and mentally"

Kevin Pham is a comerical banking professional in the SF Bay Area on sabatical to experience life outside of the corporate ream.  Kevin is currently traveling through Vetnam and blogging his adventures on Rideshare Sabatical.  Through joining PVNF, Kevin hope to learn as much as possible about the oportunities and challenges facing Vietnam. 
 
Jen England is an emergency room nurse working in San Jose.  Jen wanted to be a nurse until she received a painful immunization when she was four years old. With tears in her eyes, she told her Mom she had changed her mind. Then, she packed up her toy stethoscope and nurses cap and put them on the shelf. Years later, she left her career in the tech industry to pursue childhood dream.
Jen lives on the coast north of Santa Cruz.  Her love of the ocean and surfing have taken her to areas of the world and opened her eyes to see communities living in poverty.  Through this perspective, she felt compelled to help. “During my travels, I realized how truly lucky we are to live in a country where we have basic necessities like clean water. We take so much for granted” she said.  Jen is excited to see Vietnam for the first time and hopes her work will make it possible for the kids in Vietnam to grow up healthy and pursue their own childhood dreams.

Myhanh Nguyen is a nurse practitioner working in San Jose. Here's what Myhanh have to say about her reason for going on this surgical mission: 
" This is my 2nd trip with PVNF and my 3rd surgical mission.  I started out going to surgical missions due to a sense of long incubated guilt.  When  I was a child in the refugee camps of Thailand, some bullies forced a little boy with a severe cleft lip and palate to kiss me.  For the next two years, I gave the boy so much grief for kissing me, feeling so victimized by it.  But as I grew up, I realized that the real victim in this childhood prank is the boy with the cleft lip and palate deformity.  He was used by the bullies to scare a little girl!  So when I had the opportunity to help repair cleft lip and palate, I gladly volunteered in attempt to ease some of my guilt for causing this poor boy in my childhood so much grief.  As I got more opportunities to go on more surgical missions, my reason for going changed from guilt to responsibility.  It's been 30-something years and I've gone from a little Vietnamese refugee to a mom of two with an awesome career as a nurse practitioner.  I am here today thanks to so much help from numerous benefactors.  Thus I feel it is my responsibility to help those less fortunate and pay it forward.  Who knows, with a little help,  what this little fellow I'm holding can become?"      

Myhanh (above) with one of her little patients


  




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