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People Dermatologist Lt. Cmdr. Josephine Nguyen, of Burke, checks a Vietnamese patient’s throat at a Medical Civil Actions Project (MEDCAP) July 16 as part of Pacific Partnership 2012. Found in Translation Burke native-turned Naval Officer joins humanitarian and civic assistance mission in Vietnam. By Peter Lee U.S. Navy Lt. j.g. Burke native and U.S. Naval Academy graduate Josephine Nguyen was sent to support a U.S. Pacific Fleet sponsored humanitarian and civic assistance mission in Vietnam. Nguyen, a Lt. Cmdr. and dermatologist, recently provided medical treatment at the medical civic action project at Hung Lam Primary School in Nghe An province. Combining her medical training with her ability to speak the native language, Nguyen serves as a force multiplier in helping communicate, teach and treat Vietnamese patients. “I volunteered for this mission,” said Nguyen. “I wanted to serve and thought I could help the medical team. I also wanted to help those who come from the same heritage as me and bring together the Vietnamese and Americans during this humanitarian and civic assistance mission.” While at the Hung Lam MEDCAP, a patient was referred to Nguyen for a diffuse rash on his abdomen. “It’s exciting to be able to come to a new place and practice skills that were learned in the U.S,” Nguyen said. “As a doctor, educating a patient about behavioral modifications can have an impact on the quality of life, considering the skin is the largest organ in the body.” NGUYEN SERVED a number of patients at Hung LAM, both young and old. “I have much respect for the elders and hope that one day the children live a life of service,” she said. “There is something to be said about a changed attitude when you’re a part of a humanitarian and civic assistance mission and the fact that there are others that may be suffering more than you. It truly is a life experience.” Nguyen said participating in PP12 is a humbling experience. “It’s a big responsibility and an honor,” said Nguyen. “I wanted to be a part of the process of bringing people together and bridging cultural gaps, whether it is something that’s lost in translation or being able to represent the United States when providing care for others. If I can even make a small improvement, I will feel I served the PP12 mission well.” PP12 personnel were in Vietnam until July 24 to provide no-cost medical, dental, optometry, and veterinary care, as well civil engineering projects throughout the Hung Nguyen district. Now in its seventh year, Pacific Partnership is the largest annual humanitarian and civic assistance mission in the Asia-Pacific region that brings together U.S. military, host and partner nations, non-governmental organizations and international agencies, and is designed to build stronger relationships and disaster response capabilities. NGUYEN ATTENDED Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology prior to attending and graduating from the Naval Academy in 1999. Immediately following graduation, she entered medical school at Stanford University under the Navy’s Health Professional Scholarship Program. In 2003, Nguyen graduated from Stanford University School of Medicine and completed her internship at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. She was then forward deployed to Atsugi, Japan and assigned to Carrier Air Wing Five as a staff medical officer. Returning from Japan, she completed her residency in dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania in 2010. Nguyen, a qualified naval flight surgeon and surface warfare medical officer, is currently assigned to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and concurrently serves as a staff dermatologist and the director of medical student accessions for the Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery. 2 ❖ Burke Connection ❖ July 26 - August 1, 2012 www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Photos by Michael Feddersen/ U.S. Navy A ‘First Person’ Story on Holocaust Greenspring resident Michel Margosis to speak at Holocaust Museum. Holocaust survivor Michel Margosis is one of an estimated 1400 unaccompanied European children brought to the United States from 1933 and through World War II. Each year at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Margosis gives a presentation through the “First Person” program which is free and open to the public, and features the stories of Holocaust survivors and volunteers. On Tuesday, July 31, Margosis will give his next “First Person” presentation at 1 p.m. Margosis was born on Sept. 2, 1928 in Brussels, Belgium. There, his father was the owner and editor of two newspapers that favored the Zionist cause, one published in Yiddish and the other in French. On Sept. 3, 1939, just one day after Margosis turned 11 years old, France and England declared war on Germany; at that time, Margosis’s father was at a Zionist convention in Geneva, so when Belgium was attacked, Margosis, his siblings, and his mother fled to France. The family ended up in a detention camp where refugees were interned, but escaped after just one night. They spent the next couple of years moving throughout France in dangerous conditions until eventually escaping on foot over the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain. While in Spain, the family was separated, and as the youngest child, Margosis was sent to an orphanage. In June of 1943, at age 14, Margosis was sent unaccompanied on a ship to the United States. He became a U.S. citizen as soon as he qualified and in 1952, enlisted in the U.S. Army. In 1965, Margosis began working as a chemist with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration where he remained until retirement in 1990. Margosis has lived at Greenspring retirement community in Springfield since 1998. At Greenspring, he chairs a French Conversation Group, Holocaust Survivor, Michel Margosis. is a member of the Democratic Club (which he once chaired), and was active in starting a Parkinson’s support group. Outside of Greenspring, Margosis is the Lee District appointee on the Fairfax County Human Rights Commission. According to the County website, “the Commission takes the approach of not only receiving and investigating complaints alleging a violation of the Human Rights Ordinance, but also of cooperating with the employers, the housing industry and other businesses in the County to make sure we all understand our duty to ensure equal opportunity and equal access.” He was first appointed to the Commission in 2003. Additionally, Margosis was also a driving force in calling for a Holocaust Remembrance Day in Fairfax County (which this year fell on Thursday, April 19). He has been a member of the speaker’s bureau at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. since the Museum opened in 1993.
www.ConnectionNewspapers.com News By Victoria Ross The Connection Every three months, Fairfax County resident Kirk F. Randall reluctantly writes a check to the City of Fairfax for his water bill, and fumes about it. A lifelong County resident whose home borders the City of Fairfax, Randall is one of the 21,000 county residents who pay 71 percent more for water because he gets his water from the City of Fairfax rather than Fairfax Water, the County- utility. He also pays the water bills for his family home in McLean, where his 85-year-old father still lives. That water comes from the City of Falls Church, which charges customers such as Randall 44 percent more than other county residents pay. “Not only have I had no choice but to buy more expensive water for more than 26 years, but I don’t get to vote on the city’s decision because I’m a county resident. It’s absurd,” Randall said. In May, he paid a quarterly total of nearly $200 for both water bills. If he were a Fairfax Water customer, he would have paid $60.19. Randall’s frustration echoes that of many county residents who have complained to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors about high water bills and being “taxed” without concomitant “representation.” Currently more than 153,000 residents – approximately 14 percent - receive their water from municipal utilities in Falls Church, the City of Fairfax and the towns of Herndon and Vienna rather than Fairfax Water. Those residents pay as much as 82 percent more for their drinking water. The battle over who controls water service in Fairfax County percolated for years before erupting into a full-blown war last December when county supervisors – responding to complaints from residents - drew a line in the sand. On December 6, supervisors enacted an ordinance that gave the county broad powers to determine how residents get their water and how much they pay for it. COUNTY OFFICIALS said the new law – which was slated to go into effect July 1 - was an attempt to ensure that all county residents pay a “fair and reasonable” rate for their water. “Someone who lives in Fairfax County, but is served by a separate jurisdiction’s water provider, should have the assurance that the rate they pay can be justified,” said Board Chairman Sharon Bulova (D-Atlarge), “It’s as simple as that.” But city and town leaders argued there was nothing “simple” about the county’s move. They saw the ordinance as a blatant power grab, and promptly sued the county. “The attempt by Fairfax County in 2011 to regulate rates for water systems it doesn’t own, and didn’t Burke Connection Editor Kemal Kurspahic 703-778-9414 or south@connectionnewspapers.com Keeping the Pressure On Tired of paying both City of Fairfax and Falls Church water bills, one Fairfax County man becomes a vocal water activist. Kirk F. Randall, a Fairfax County resident who is tired of paying higher prices to the City of Fairfax and Falls Church for his water, stands outside Fairfax City Hall on Armstrong Street carrying the sign “Sky High Water Rates Coming Soon.” build, is simply unconstitutional,” said Virginia State Senator Chap Petersen (D-34), a longtime City of Fairfax resident and former council member, whose constituents include Fairfax City, Town of Vienna, and Fairfax County residents. He maintains that current state law already requires water to be provided as a “cost-based” service. “In other words, the price of our water is based on the cost of service. That price, about $1 a day, is one of the cheapest rates in the United States, no matter where you live in Northern Virginia,” said Petersen, who considered introducing legislation in the General Assembly to nullify the county ordinance last December. The ensuing “Water Wars” have embroiled four local governments, powerful politicians, high-level bureaucrats, high-priced legal teams, the U.S Army Corps of Engineers, and a billion-dollar utility company, who are spending a significant amount of time and money battling each other in a series of lawsuits, legislative showdowns and PR campaigns. There was a temporary cease-fire on June 14 when county officials agreed to a 90-day suspension of the ordinance, and the cities of Fairfax and Falls Church agreed to put their litigation on hold, as all sides discuss various options to reduce the rates the affected county residents pay for their water. “Many assumed the County would be mandating See Water Bills, Page 6 Photo by Victoria Ross/The Connection Gaela Hime, flanked by Congressman Gerry Connolly, Supervisor John Cook (R-Braddock District), Del. David Bulova, Board of Supervisors Chairman Sharon Bulova and Del. Fisher-Corn received the Best of Braddock’s Most Can-Do Public Employee Award. Assuring Safe Passage Crossing guard Gaela Hime receives Best of Braddock Award for 27 Years of Safe Passage. By Amiee Freeman The Connection When Gaela Hime started out as a crossing guard, 27 years ago, or “back in the day,” crossing guards had to wear skirts and high heels. “We had to wear white gloves and our nylons could not have runs in them,” she remembered Wednesday at the Best of Braddock Awards Picnic and Ceremony. Hime received the Most Can-Do Public Employee in the District (Local Level) Award for her commitment to the community as a crossing guard for three area schools: Robinson Secondary, Oak View and Laurel Ridge elementary schools. Hime began working as a crossing guard when her son entered kindergarten. Hime initially applied for a job as a bus driver and had begun training when she heard there was a need for crossing guards. “I have had so much fun learning the kids’ names and the names of their parents and even their dogs. There were perhaps about 10 names each year I didn’t learn.” Hime was nominated by Lisa Waldrop, a member of the Robinson Secondary PTSA. In her nominating essay, Waldrop wrote that what makes Hime “exceptional is her ability to remember the names of the students and parents she has dealt with over the years. Children, boys and girls alike, stop to give Gaela Hime chats with Supervisor John Cook following Wednesday’s award ceremony. her hugs or high-fives. She will always be remembered for her smile as she assured us safe passage when we crossed the street every day for the last 27 years.” As a crossing guard, Hime developed a special connection with the student patrols. She joked that she even tried to teach the patrols proper grammar while working with them. “You never begin a sentence with ‘Me.’ I tried to teach them that,” she laughed. In her 27 years as guard she worked with numerous patrols, the older of whom are now grown with families of their own. Hime said recently she became reacquainted with one of the patrols who is now herself an elementary school teacher with young children. Hime retired on May 18. She lives in Kings Park West. Burke Connection ❖ July 26 - August 1, 2012 ❖ 3 Photos by Amiee Freeman/The Connection
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