ALUMNI AFFADAVITS - School of Nursing - University of Virginia

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72334_out.qxp 1/12/06 1:28 AM Page 19 ALUMNI IN ACTION Grateful to Mentors, New Nurse Seeks to Serve Lan-Anh Thi Phan BSN Class of 2005 “In the nursing field, I play the role of not just a care provider, but also as an educator and a counselor, because I get to interact with a diverse group of patients.” In 1995, Lan-Anh Thi Phan and her family left a rural farming village outside Saigon that had been home for all of her nearly thirteen years and boarded an airplane.Twenty hours later, she looked out the window and there was New York City at night. After another short flight, she arrived in Washington, where she first experienced snow. “That was the most freezing cold I have ever been,” she said. On May 22, 2005, Anh, then 22, walked down Thomas Jefferson’s hallowed Lawn and graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in nursing. She carried upon her slender shoulders the hope of her family and an entire refugee community, having overcome a language barrier, the tragic death of her father three years ago, and an illness of her own, brought on in part by a sometimes crushing sense of responsibility. Throughout her journey, the words of her father have echoed in her mind: Education is the key to survival, no matter who you are in this country. “Her strengths are her ability to overcome adversity, to always look for opportunity and not be discouraged,” said her adviser, nursing professor Emily Drake. “She will not be discouraged.” Anh credits a series of people with guiding her transition from a wide-eyed immigrant to a self-assured college graduate. “There was always somebody supporting me,” she said. The first was her father, Hoanh Huu Phan. A lieutenant in the South Vietnamese Army, he had a chance to escape during the fall of Saigon in 1975, but turned back to stay with his wife. His loyalty cost him eight years in a reeducation camp; he and his family then spent ten years awaiting papers to allow them to leave for the United States. Anh remembers her father carrying her the three miles to her Vietnamese school on his bicycle, and listening to his voice as he read to his children at night. It was he who urged her to follow her passion into nursing, though her mother suggested she try business instead. “If you do what you like, money will come to you,” he told her. Hoanh Huu Phan died tragically in an automobile accident in Washington during Anh’s second year at U.Va. Anh was torn between continuing her studies and the obligation she felt to help her mother and younger brother. Her father was the family’s guide in the United States. With him gone, Anh took on more responsibility. “I have always been the second mother to my younger brother, Minh,” she said. “But suddenly I became the father and the emotional support for my mom, and the personal representative for the family, while I went through coping myself.” In addition to her father, Anh said she is grateful to Sandy Dang, the founder and executive director of Asian American Leadership Empowerment and Development for Youth and Family (AALEAD), a Washington group that helps Vietnamese immigrants make the 18 The Virginia Legacy WINTER 2005–06
72334_out.qxp 1/12/06 1:28 AM Page 20 ALUMNI IN ACTION transition to American society, providing after-school and summer enrichment programs, tutoring sessions, a mentoring program, and a high school academic and leadership program, from which Anh graduated. Anh became a member of AALEAD’s Youth Board and founded its Youth Power Group. She represented the organization at a White House conference on teenagers, meeting with then-Labor Secretary Alexis Herman. “The staff members have been like my friends and relatives; AALEAD is my second family,” she said. “I have learned and benefited from its programs, and I feel obligated to give back in any possible way that I can.” Dang speaks of Anh in glowing terms. “She’s extremely bright. She’s resilient, has a positive outlook on life and is so determined. She has a great sense of responsibility, and she cares so much. “We see the potential in her, and the kind of impact she can have on the world.” Anh credits Dang and her eighthgrade English as a Second Language teacher, Dawn McKeever, for helping her make the transition to American society. She essentially learned English in eighth grade—well enough that she was named Wilson High’s English Student of the Year as a freshman. Though her classmates sometimes teased her about her English, she ignored them and pushed on—winning a science fair, captaining the cross-country team, and being elected president of the Asian- American Student Association and coordinator of the National Honor Society. She finished among the top ten Anh and Dean Lancaster at graduation, 2005 in her graduating class and was one of four Wilson graduates admitted to U.Va. Her determination had a dark side, however. Isolated from her support system at U.Va., but reluctant to seek help, she struggled in her first months. She grew fatigued, which she found alarming. “We see the potential in her, and the kind of impact she can have on the world.” The exhaustion “prevented me from getting up in the morning and going to class.” She eventually sought help and was diagnosed with a stress-related heart condition, which she was able to control with medication and a lifestyle change. Anh also found new mentors within the School of Nursing. She grew close to then associate dean Doris Greiner, and still carries a seashell Greiner gave her. “Often I’ve given troubled students a seashell as a reminder of calming energy,” Greiner explained, “as though they are at ocean for a few minutes and experience how restorative that can be.” Anh skipped the first semester of her second year, then returned for the spring term—just before her father died. She opted to stay at U.Va., and was active in both the Asian Student Union and the Vietnamese Student Association, taught Vietnamese, and served as a translator at PTO meetings, health clinics, and emergency rooms in both Charlottesville and Washington. Anh is now working as an oncology nurse at Washington Hospital Center. Although she had planned to enter the Peace Corps after graduation, she didn’t get assigned to South Africa as she hoped. She decided to try something new in nursing. With exposure to oncology in her gynecology practicum, she found herself interested in the field. Anh feels lucky to work at a hospital where she has significant input on patient care, because she is one of a diverse team of caregivers—doctors, nurses, NPs, dieticians—who care for the patient and who are willing to listen to each other. She enjoys the interaction with the patient and family because she gets to know them as whole people, and not just a medical record. Death is hard, and so are the many ethical issues surrounding treatment, legal issues, and family vs. patient wishes. She is about to become certified to administer chemotherapy. “In the nursing field, I play the role of not just a care provider, but also an educator and a counselor, because I get to interact with a diverse group of patients,” she said. Clearly, she appreciates the value of a good mentor. “Somehow, you make a difference in someone’s life,” she said. That’s what she hopes to do one person at a time. The Virginia Legacy WINTER 2005–06 19
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ALUMNI AFFADAVITS - School of Nursing - University of Virginia

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