Challenges at “gateway” of front line
Mai Hoa has completed two deployments to U.N. peacekeeping missions, while Thanh Phuong is a young female service member undertaking an international mission for the first time. Both have grown professionally while working far from home in an environment marked by numerous difficulties and challenges. Through their sense of responsibility, compassion and dedicated day-to-day work as medical personnel caring wholeheartedly for patients on the front line in Bentiu, South Sudan, the two officers have continuously trained and strived to earn the honor of becoming members of the Communist Party of Viet Nam.
Held nearly 10,000 kilometers from their homeland, the Party admission ceremony carried special significance for the two Vietnamese servicewomen, particularly as it took place on August 19, the 81st anniversary of the success of the August Revolution.
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Major Nguyen Duc Trong presents the Party membership admission decisions to non-commissioned Major Truong Mai Hoa and non-commissioned Senior Captain Dang Thi Thanh Phuong. |
Mai Hoa and Thanh Phuong both work at the Outpatient Department, regarded as one of the “gateways” of L2FH Rotation 7 and a frontline facility in Bentiu. The department is the first point of contact for receiving, examining, providing emergency care and delivering primary healthcare to U.N. personnel from many countries.
Major Nguyen Duc Trong, Head of the Outpatient Department, shared that the challenges were not limited to differences in language, but also included culture, communication styles and patients’ expectations of medical personnel. Every interaction with a patient was not only an opportunity for them to perform their professional duties, but also a chance to introduce the image of Vietnamese service members, as well as the country and people, to international friends.
Having followed the two servicewomen throughout their deployment, Maj. Trong said that Truong Mai Hoa had not only performed her professional duties well, earning patients’ sentiment and colleagues’ trust, but had also actively participated in women’s affairs as well as the unit’s cultural exchange, charity and humanitarian activities.
Meanwhile, Dang Thi Thanh Phuong is the youngest member of the department but has consistently demonstrated an energetic and progressive attitude, proactively learned from others and readily accepted assignments. Through her daily work and major U.N. inspections, she has increasingly demonstrated maturity, responsibility and strong teamwork skills.
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At the Party membership admission ceremony |
Listening to patients and sharing their pain
Regarding Mai Hoa, Maj. Trong said that what impressed him most was the exemplary conduct and high sense of responsibility demonstrated by the female nurse from Military Central Hospital 108. Her experience at one of the military’s leading hospitals, as well as her previous deployment to Abyei, helped her adapt more quickly to South Sudan. Nevertheless, working at the frontline hospital in Bentiu presented new requirements.
While serving at the L1FH of the engineering company in Abyei, she had helped transfer military personnel from lower-level medical facilities to higher-level hospitals. In Bentiu, however, she is responsible for receiving patients transferred to the facility. To perform her duties effectively, Hoa has actively improved her foreign-language proficiency, information technology skills and ability to provide care in a multicultural environment.
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Lt. Col. Tran Duc Tai and female colleagues congratulate the two new Party members. |
Hoa recalled the case of a female U.N. staff member who was brought to the hospital for emergency treatment after fainting. During their conversation, Hoa learned that the patient had just received news that her father had suddenly died of a stroke. After completing the necessary medical care, Hoa approached the woman, held her hand and embraced her. On two occasions when Hoa’s own parents were hospitalized for surgery, she was unable to be by their side because she was serving on overseas missions. For that reason, she understood the feelings of a daughter facing a family tragedy while thousands of kilometers away from home.
That brief moment with the patient helped the nurse understand more deeply that providing the best possible care requires not only professional knowledge and skills, but also respect, attentive listening, empathy and genuine compassion from medical personnel.
At the Party admission ceremony, Lieutenant Colonel Tran Duc Tai, Director of L2FH Rotation 7, reminded the two female officers that becoming a Party member was a major milestone in their life, but alongside the honor came a very great responsibility.
Speaking on behalf of the two new Party members, Mai Hoa affirmed that Party membership was not a destination, but the beginning of a new journey. She and her colleagues would continue to strive, improve themselves and live up to the responsibilities of Party members by dedicating themselves fully and fulfilling all assigned tasks.
Translated by Quynh Oanh