Meet the Pacific Angel 2010 Volunteers

In early May, five Project HOPE volunteer health care providers travelled to Can Tho, Vietnam to support Operation Pacific Angel 2010 at the Tan Thoi and Truong Thanh Villages in the Phong Dien District, Cuu Long Delta area.

Dr. James Honl is an experienced HOPE volunteer who served onboard the USNS Mercy in Indonesia in 2005 after the tsunami. While in Vietnam, he performed optometry training and mentoring while also seeing hundreds of patients each day.

Bich Nguyen, a nurse midwife who volunteered for HOPE during Pacific Angel 2009, participated again this year. Born in Vietnam, her language skills helped her lead HOPE’s midwife team. Bich earned a huge following among her Vietnamese counterparts during last year’s operation. She developed a reputation for calmness and patience under pressure for teaching and coaching younger and less experienced midwives.

HOPE’s other two nurse midwives were first time HOPE volunteers. Noreen Prokuski, from the University of Illinois and Anika Phillips from Vanderbilt University worked alongside Bich and the Vietnamese nurse midwives and woman’s health providers performing examinations, education and prescription writing functions.

Dr. Charles “Fritz” Craft, a dentist is a US Air Force reservist who lives and works in Cambodia performing health humanitarian assistance work joined the volunteers as Project HOPE’s Medical Director. Dr. Fritz plans to volunteer again during next year’s health operations in Vietnam.

Project HOPE volunteers will return to Vietnam at the end of May onboard the USNS Mercy as part of the Pacific Partnership 2010. Check back for updates.