Cultural Care-Giving : Health Clinic Fills Gap by Serving Low-Income Vietnamese

Dr. Khiet Thanh Truong wants to prevent what happened to Stacy Phan and her handicapped daughter.

Phan fatally shot her 4-year-old child and then laid down with her on a freeway to be run over early this month. The young mother, who was distraught over the child’s condition, probably never thought to seek help for her depression. And even if she did, existing language barriers and the high cost of mental health care might have discouraged her, the doctor said.

Truong and a group of Vietnamese physicians not only want to educate the Vietnamese community about mental health, they also want to provide treatment for those who are reluctant to go to existing health-care centers because of cultural differences or economic hardships.

Two months ago, the physicians opened the Nhan Hoa Comprehensive Health Care Clinic at 14032 Lake St., believed to be the only low-income medical clinic in Orange County founded by Asian physicians and dedicated to the care of the local Vietnamese population, according to county health care officials.

Of the existing 12 clinics licensed to serve people who cannot pay medical costs, most have bilingual services for the Latino population but none are geared toward Asian patients, said Faith Hagerty, executive director of the Coalition of Orange County Community Clinics.

“I think this is important,” Hagerty said. “The Asian population tends to want to go to Asian practitioners. Typically, most patients at the (other) clinics are of Hispanic background so a lot of clinics try to accommodate them. Asians need the medical service too, but the clinics haven’t been able to provide that” language assistance.

Nhan Hoa’s volunteer physicians include two who have been trained in general practice, one in dental care, two in mental health, and the others in special treatments such as acupuncture, said Truong, the center’s executive director.

The clinic, which already has a client list of 200, charges each patient $5 for paperwork but that is quickly swallowed in daily operating costs, especially when patients who cannot afford the $5 fee arrive. There are only enough volunteers to staff Nhan Hoa on weekdays, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Not all patients who are treated there are Vietnamese, doctors said. Nearby churches and surrounding neighbors have referred homeless people and low-income residents of other ethnic groups to the center.

“We would like to get help from many doctors of many races and maybe turn this into an ethnically diverse community clinic,” Truong said.

Donations from businesses help pay the clinic’s monthly operating costs of $3,500, he said. The center also receives free X-ray laboratory services from the Magnolia Medical Imaging Center and medicine from the Aloha Pharmacy, both in Westminster.

The clinic’s founders, all doctors with private practices of their own, said they saw a need for the clinic after seeing an increase in Vietnamese patients who were not able to pay for medical services.

Tuong Duy Nguyen, executive director of the Vietnamese Community of Orange County Inc., said the increase may be due to recent unemployment caused by the recession and by workers who are not covered by medical insurance in their jobs.

Others seeking treatment include new immigrants who are not eligible for government-sponsored benefits. For the most part, they are immigrants who have been sponsored by family members under the Orderly Departure Program, an agreement between the United States and Vietnam to reunite immediate family members.

The economic downturn has added to the stress already experienced by exiles from war-torn countries who are trying to adjust to life in America, physicians at Nhan Hoa said. Many of the patients need psychological help and do not know it.

“Usually they come in and say they have stomachaches, or headaches or they can’t sleep,” said Dr. Vien Dao Doan, who specializes in family medicine. “But what is the source of all those symptoms? Well, we then find out it’s from family problems. . . .”

About 10% of the clients have mental illnesses, he said.

“But the (Vietnamese) community is still very resistant to this idea,” Doan added.

Vietnamese people tend to be private about their affairs and only want to trust their own family members, he said. They also generally do not understand that mental illnesses require regular care over periods of time.

Nhan Hoa’s organizers hope to provide information about mental health and medical care, possibly through a column in Vietnamese-language newspapers or on Vietnamese television, Truong said.

Interested volunteers and those needing treatment can call the clinic at (714) 539-9999.