Northeast Alumnus Viet Nguyen Helps At-Risk Population During COVID-19 Pandemic
Meet Viet Nguyen, D.C. '01
Hometown: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
The curriculum at New York Chiropractic College, now Northeast College of Health Sciences, helped Viet Nguyen, D.C. ’01, succeed while facing the many challenges of opening his own chiropractic office in Canada.
A clinical nurse before becoming a chiropractor, Nguyen said the training at the college also helped him manage and combat new circumstances in healthcare, including the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic.
When his practice was among the many businesses closed temporarily due to the COVID-19 shut down, Nguyen sprang into action to find another way to directly help people stay healthy, volunteering to help a population at great risk – the elderly.
"In our profession, every action we do, every action that I was taught to do as a chiropractor, is to improve the quality of our patients' lives so they can live better – from the treatments to the recommendations and the diagnosis to the follow-ups, and of course, the caring."
What have you been doing since the start of the pandemic?
I helped out in the COVID-19 clinic to do testing, as I was a clinical nurse before becoming a chiropractor. But since the nursing homes were the epicenter of the cases, I volunteered to work in nursing homes and help the elderly.
What have your duties been while working in nursing homes?
My tasks were mainly to check and dispense medications, take vital signs, evaluate any neurological deterioration of the patients, as well as make sure that they are properly taken care of. I also supervise orderlies to make sure that they respect sanitary precautions.
How has the experience of caring for the elderly during the pandemic affected you?
Even with my experience in critical care and acute care as a clinical nurse and taking care of patients as a doctor of chiropractic, working with the elderly that have Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, dementia and different types of paralysis was quite an experience and a challenge. I have had a humbling and eye-opening time spent there.
What did you learn?
It definitely made me realize how much I love my work as a doctor of chiropractic. In our profession, every action we do, every action that I was taught to do, is to improve the quality of life of patients so they can better enjoy their lives --from the treatments to the recommendations and the diagnosis to the follow-ups, and of course, the caring.
