Women of Bến Tre

Down in the Mekong delta, between the two serpentine branches of the Tiền Giang River lies the province of Bến Tre. This region is filled with sun-drenched rice patties, towering coconut trees, and sediment-filled brown creeks that feed into the fertile farmland. Although this province is situated in the heart of the south, it was the area where the first shots of the Vietnam war was fired, or the Đồng khởi.

Scarred with the horrors of the war, this area of the Vietnamese countryside holds many resilient people. Of the most resilient are the elderly women of Bến Tre. I had the great honor of talking to and hearing stories from these women as they came to be seen by our medical mission. Many of these women were well into their 80s, and even 90s. However upon talking to them, we found that most of these women lived either alone or with just a few children. Most of their husbands have died in the war or have left them, and most of their children have left to the city to find better jobs. Despite that, these women still press on and thrive.

Their teeth are gone, their smiles have faded, their skin is wrinkled, and their hair is silver–yet their determination still remains high. Their will to live is incredible. Many of these women are old enough to have even live through the war for Vietnam’s independence from France. Many chapters of their lives have been stained with bloodshed, and drenched with tears. I am sure that they have lost many loved ones during both wars. The more I hear their stories, the more my heart is moved. In a country where the average life expectancy is 74 years, this group of women have overcome many obstacles to outlive this statistic.

Maybe my heartstrings resonate with this particular group of people because my grandmother was also a woman of Bến Tre. Grandma was the pillar of our family when we immigrated to the states in 1990. She passed away in 1994 in Fremont, California at the old age of 84. My fondest memory of my Grandma was her early morning exercises that she consistently woke up early for. She lived a selfless life all the way to the end. Because of her faithful prayers, my family have also overcome many obstacles of the war.

When I look into the crowd of our patients, I can imagine Grandma sitting in the crowd waiting patiently to be seen. She would probably be very tired from walking a long distance, but there would be no words of complaint on her lips, just like her peers. That is because they know that there are much worse things to complain for. I thank God for the elderly women of Bến Tre, and I hope that I can carry on that spirit–the spirit of resilience.

GSMDM Blog: the beginning of the end 8.5.10

Tonight I am with the Pharmacy Team doing our last inventory of the mission. We are deciding on which meds to bring back to the states, and which to leave in our Vietnam storage base. The Pharmacy Team has dispensed over 5,000 medications so far, and we have seen 2,600 patients total. The last few days have been great, but I can see fatigue settling in on the team member’s faces.

Yesterday we had a banquet on an island in the middle of the Tien Giang river. Dinner was hosted by the government officials of Ben Tre. They passed out medals to our leaders, and the whole team got a pin that represented Ben Tre. It is a great feeling seeing the government working alongside us to this extent. I can clearly see the bridges are being built. Our medical director, Dr. Doan sat with the government officials and was offered an alcoholic beverage. However another government official said, “this is a Christian mission, they don’t drink alcohol.”. It is a good feeling to know that we are bringing glory to God’s name through this mission.

On the surgical front we operated on over 10 cases today, including a very tough plastic surgery case with a man that had an invasive mole on his face. The procedure included cutting out the melanonic tissue, and rotation a large flap of body skin clockwise to cover the gap. Many lives are being changed in the O.R. alone.

The beginning of the end is bittersweet. The Good Samaritans are still absorbing their experieces, and hope to hang on to this feeling for a long team. The feeling I am talking about is the joy of being a part of the life changing experience of the people of Vietnam. This is our Que Huong. This is our people.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

GSMDM Blog: Story thus far 8.3.10

The History Team

Tuesday, August 3, 2010. 10:09am

I am sitting in a large auditorium right now filled with patients and Good Samaritans. This morning I uploaded a quick update via a self-video that I posted giving an update of the team so far. Today, we are set up in the most peculiar of places: a city multipurpose room. Looking around, I see many scarlet banners praising the Party. Underneath these banners, the Good Samaritans continue to spread their love through their servant hearts.

Under the large hammer and sickle logo is where the doctors are sitting. The majority of our patients for the past two weeks have been elderly ladies. What the team has been surprised about is that these elderly ladies have been coming to the clinic by themselves. They have walked many kilometers with their hunched backs to come and get medical care. On their faces, we can see fatigue—but we also see hope. Hope for medical condition. Hope for their families. Hope for their last few years on this Earth. The Good Samaritans’ hearts have been cut the past two weeks from many power encounters, and we have personally poured out a great deal of personal money out of our pockets to help our patients. Many tears have been shed on both sides of the examination desk.

I gave money on behalf of the mission to one lady this morning. She was very sick and did not have any money for medications. She said she was just waiting to die in peace. When our volunteers saw this, they could not hold in their emotions. We laid hands on her, and said the we, the Good Samaritans, want to shower the love of God on to you. With this, we gave her $300.000 VND and prayed for her. She was so moved, that she couldn’t get words out of her mouth. Stories like these happen everyday. Our own team members have been opening their wallets and their hearts for our patients, and lives are being changed.

When patients first come in, they reach the History Team. This is where their vitals are taken, and their chief complaints are recorded. The History Team is well-trained to take a comprehensive medical history to better help the physician diagnose their problems. Next the patients would move into the doctor’s room, where we have a team of primary care physicians from both the United States and Vietnam examining the patients. Everyday, we have a variety of cases. Some of them have illness that span from mild lower lumbar pain, from working in the rice fields, to patients that actually experience epileptic seizures in the examination room. The Medical Assistant team works with the American doctors to aid in the translation and medical procedures.

If our doctors need to order lab tests, our Lab team meets this need by utilizing a vast repertoire of laboratory equipment. With our handy Piccolo Machine, the doctors’ could get such tests done as lipids, triglycerides, liver enzymes, electrolytes, creatinine, etc, done in just 30 minutes. You couldn’t even get results this fast in the states!

Next the patients either go to the optometry room or the dental room—or both. Our optometry room features a high-tech piece of equipment called the auto-refractor. This equipment can find what prescription the patient’s eye needs, and match the patient up with one of our hundreds of eyeglasses. Many lives have been changed in the optometry room alone. Years of blurred vision have been relieved. One man was so overjoyed, because he hadn’t read his bible in many years because of his eyes. Now, God’s word can once again be accessible to him.

The Dental Team specializes in the pulling of teeth that have cause pain for our patients for many years. We are fully equipped with many dental surgical instruments, and even two portable autoclaves for sterilizations. Dr. David Le has been a great dentist and a leader in our dental ministry.

At the end of the day, all the patients visit our pharmacy, which is fully equipped with an extensive repertoire of drugs. Also, the pharmacy utilizes an electronic database that automatically updates us on how much medication we have left, and what we need to buy. This allows us to dispense over 1000 prescriptions a day. This year we only have one pharmacist, Co Thuỷ, and she has been doing a phenomenal job alongside the pharmacy team.
Last, but definitely not least, we have the reception team. The reception team is the glue that holds the clinic together. They are responsible for leading patients from room to room, setting up and maintaining our electrical generators, and setting up our toilets. Imagine if you will, two beautiful girls holding a trash bag full of the team’s restroom waste and finding a place to dispose of it. That is the dedication of the reception team.

The Good Samaritans have logged many hours and have seen 2,000 patients so far, and have operated on about a dozen. I was fortunate enough to have spent some time in operating room and seen many lives being changed after surgery. One woman had a 10 cm ovarian cyst in her body for many years. We were able to take that cyst out, with the help of our OB/GYN surgeon, Dr. Steve Hordinsky.

Although our adventure is ending in a few days, we hope our love for Vietnam and our patients do not. We also hope that you do not forget Vietnam. God still has more in store; we hope that you can join in the vision. I see it as a privilege to be serving here. This is because I can see healing right before my eyes. Healing from illnesses, healing from emotional scars, healing between the church and the government and healing for my own self. We invite you to be a part of this great undertaking. Currently, we are running out of money for surgeries. If you feel moved, we invite you to also be a part of this vision by donating to GSMDM. You can pay directly at http://www.gsmedicalministry.org/donate. These funds will be sent directly to us on the field. Thank you all for your kind hearts.

Ben Khuc

“Changing Lives One at a Time”

GSMDM Video Blog 8.2.10

Not a full videoblog w/ clincal clips, but just an update

GSMDM Videoblog- 7.29.10

Finally, I got time to put together a legit video blog.

GSMDM Video Blog: 7.28.10

Quick update of things thus far.

GSMDM Videoblog 2010: First Clinical Day!

Finally, the rubber meets the road. This is what we traveled thousands of miles for!

GSMDM Video Blog: 7.24.10

Sunday. This is our last “Fun” day before we go 100% into clinical work. Play hard, but work hard guys!

GSMDM Blog: PRAYERS ANSWERED!

It is now morning in Bến Tre. We are staying at the Hàm Luông Hotel, and it has been very successful trip from U.S. I just wanted to say THANK YOU for all that prayed. I have an update to tell you how God has been working. Do you remember my post about the rgent prayer request? Well, yesterday when we landed in Sài Gon, it only took us 45 minutes from the time we landed, to the time the whole team (~70 people) to get outside the airport–including 210 pieces of luggage. This is unbelievable to us, because every year, we always got held back for at least 3-4 hours because of our extensive medical equipment. Therefore I just want to tell you guys that all your prayers were heard… and I know we have MANY people and churches praying for us. God moved a mountain for us.

After the airport, we got to our hotel and finished unloading around 3:30pm yesterday, and we had about 2 hours to spare. Then some people found that there was a swimming pool at the hotel, so we all jumped into the pool and swam. During the swim, it starting raining, and we all had a fun time playing marco polo in the pool. Today is Sunday, and in a few hours we are going to go worship at the local church. Tomorrow will be the first clinical day!

The Hàm Luông Hotel, where we are staying.

GSMDM Video Blog: LAX –> Taipei

I am now at our Hotel in Ben Tre…. THERE’S WIFI!!!