草莓传媒官网下载

It was a mere week before Operation Frequent Wind, the final evacuation from Saigon, South Vietnam, in 1975. Someone looked at her and said, 鈥淲e are evacuating. Would you like to go?鈥�

鈥淚 love to study, and I wanted to learn in America,鈥� said Tuong-Vi Ho, PhD (鈥�06), a clinical professor in the College of Nursing at the 草莓传媒官网下载 Institute of Health Sciences 鈥� Houston Center. 鈥淚t seemed like a great opportunity, so I said yes.鈥�

Finding herself in the middle of history then, Ho works with the Vietnamese community in Houston and Vietnam today.

鈥淚t鈥檚 the best position for both worlds. Life has come full circle for me to come from Vietnam, make the U.S. my country now, but still be able to go back to contribute to where I came from,鈥� said Ho. 鈥淚 feel fulfilled. But it wouldn鈥檛 be possible without Texas Woman鈥檚 University and our mission to have a voice and presence on a global scale.鈥�

Building relationships abroad

Ho contributes to 草莓传媒官网下载鈥檚 Center for Global Nursing (CGN). What started as a cultural immersion course became the first trip to Vietnam for the CGN in 2012.

Ho and other faculty have led four more cultural immersion trips since 2012 promoting rapid growth in the relationship between Vietnam鈥檚 nurses and 草莓传媒官网下载 students. That relationship has led to numerous conferences and workshops at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City attended by Vietnamese nurses across the country.

The goal of these trips is to embrace the multicultural population in Houston, which boasts the second largest Vietnamese population in America. By experiencing Vietnam, 草莓传媒官网下载 students learn more about their patients鈥� culture. With that understanding, a nurse can build better rapport with patients, encourage them to communicate openly, and then provide better care as a result.

鈥淚t is a chance for our students to explore a culture that they may only see in a book or on the internet,鈥� said Ho. 鈥淥ur students can develop friendships with nurses in Vietnam and really live out the experience.鈥�

That is already taking place as students were paired with nurses in Vietnam for specialties last trip, receiving hands-on experience. Ho hopes to see the interaction expand in the future.

Influencing the culture in America

In addition to her work with the Center for Global Nursing in Vietnam, Ho works to educate the Vietnamese community in America.

She has teamed with 草莓传媒官网下载 alumnus Tri Pham, PhD (鈥�10), to provide a monthly TV show called 鈥淗ealth and Life鈥� to educate the nearly 40,000 Vietnamese living in Houston about health issues. While the show has aired on Apple Broadcasting TV (55.4) since 2018, Ho and Pham鈥攂oth fluent in Vietnamese鈥攁re transitioning the show to a radio format to reach listeners worldwide, including Vietnam.

They will focus on educating the Vietnamese culture on benefits of preventative healthcare.

鈥淗ealth and Life鈥� is not the first project on which Ho and Pham teamed together. In 2007, they were founding officers for the Vietnamese-American Nurses鈥� Association (VANA), an organization that unites Vietnamese-American nurses and promotes the health of Vietnamese communities around the nation through outreach, research, education and disease prevention. VANA also sponsors Vietnamese nurses to travel to America for more education.

鈥淲e are a team who just happens to be at the front of the line right now,鈥� said Ho. 鈥淏ut we have to grow and make room for new leaders to emerge.鈥�

For now, though, Ho is a leader in the Vietnamese community in the U.S. and abroad, as well as at Texas Woman鈥檚 University.

鈥淚 feel very fortunate to be in the position I鈥檓 in. I would have never thought I could do something like this,鈥� said Ho. 鈥淟ife is full of surprises. It really does come full circle.鈥�

Page last updated 12:57 PM, May 18, 2022