The death of an acquaintance

This morning, one of my ESL students told me that another student passed away. It was very sad to hear the news because I just met her at the VACAT's Moon Festival Picnic. She was there quietly enjoying the lantern parade. I stopped by to say hi and asked her to join the parade. I didn't realize she was suffering from a heart attack at that moment. There were doctors, nurses, and pharmacists from AVAMPS (Austin Vietnamese American Medical Professional Society) there. There were policemen and firemen there. If she said something, her life might have been saved. If her symptoms got severe, her life might have been saved. It is sad to see how easy a life can be ended.

From the other student, I learned that she had the shooting pains in her chest for a few days. That morning, the pain got worse. I know she had MAP (medical assistance programs) to allow her to go to an assigned clinic and the Brackenridge hospital in case of emergency. I also know it's quite hard to schedule a doctor appointment with the clinic especially when she did not speak or understand English well. I don't think if she knew those were heart-attack symptoms. And even if she knew how bad her condition was, I don't think she knew she could go to the hospital with her MAP card.

Sitting here with thousands of thoughts running through my mind, I am wondering what she knew and what she didn't know; I am wondering if there was anything that could help; I am wondering how many people are like her in the Vietnamese community? I am wondering what program(s) we can create to help those people. And I just realized my social program at VACAT is not enough. In that program, I help people to get government assistance for health, food and others. But I do not have any programs to educate people about their rights or how to use those programs. And there are no Vietnamese speaking representatives at those programs to help the Vietnamese people. It was my plan last year to campaign and lobby to the city/state to have the Vietnamese speaking language at all the programs for low-income people. I started talking to a few people at the state then the plan was halted. I was lazy and busy. And a part of it, I was discouraged by some rude people who bugged me constantly when they didn't really need help. The death of this person gives me encouragement and inspiration to continue. I hope to remember this death whenever I feel lazy or discouraged.