Serving the Future Vietnamese-American Community in Small Animal Medicine

We are excited to share Quang Nguyen’s experience below, funded by Charlie’s Angels fund.

My career goal has always been to become a small animal veterinarian and serve the Vietnamese-American community in the U.S., where veterinary care is still under-resourced and inaccessible to many community members. Global Engagement Scholarship allowed me to take a step closer to that goal. The fund enabled me to work as a vet assistant at Friendly Animal Hospital in Huntington Beach, California, where the majority of the clients are from underserved communities, especially the Vietnamese-American community in Southern California (up to 30% of the clients at the clinic are Vietnamese-Americans).

The inadequacy in diversity and resources impedes pets and pet owners from accessing appropriate pet care. Language barriers are a known hindering factor in healthcare. As a result, pet owners bring their pets to the clinic only when there is a severe disease progression or an emergency. During the experience, I encountered a case where a canine patient was admitted to the hospital with signs of severe diabetic ketoacidosis. Due to the language barrier and lack of veterinary medicine accessibility, the owner only brought the pet in when detrimental signs were shown. With intensive care, we were able to treat the DKA and help manage diabetes. With my ability to speak both Vietnamese and English, I was able to use my bilingual skills to help the owner understand diabetes in dogs and how to manage her pet’s condition at home. Seeing the pet getting healthy again and how happy her owner was was very rewarding.

Overall, this is a valuable experience. I was able to gain veterinary knowledge, serve the community I care about, and solidify my post-graduate plan as I am planning to move and practice in California.