Vallejo optometrist looks back on perilous flight from Vietnam
She could have been captured by pirates. She could have drowned or perished from thirst or starvation.
But fate had other plans for former Vietnamese "boat person" Bach-Kim Nguyen, an optometrist who recently took over for longtime Vallejo eye doctor Bernard Deschuytter.
Deschuytter still sees patients occasionally, but he sold his practice to Nguyen at the end of July, Nguyen said.
"Dr. Deschuytter was here, in this location, for about 20 years, and he'd been thinking about selling for a while," Nguyen said. "I got a letter from a broker about it being available, and I called."
Nguyen, who lives in Pacheco, said the timing was perfect.
"I'd been waiting for an opportunity for a second practice," said Nguyen, who bought her first practice in Walnut Creek in 1998.
"I learned the best way to grow a practice is to buy an existing one, not to open cold."
Along with the practice, Nguyen inherited longtime optical technician Blanca Hillman, who said that while Nguyen is different from Deschuytter in some ways, the two are similar where it counts most.
"Both are caring and compassionate, and I think that's why we haven't lost very many patients" during the transition, Hillman said. "Dr. Deschuytter is still here on weekends, so it's not like he's gone forever, and that's making it easier for some of his longtime patients to make the transition."
Nguyen, a 43-year-old single mother of two, said she feels some urgency in growing her business, because she got something of a late start due to circumstances beyond her control.
The second of 10 children, Nguyen escaped her native Vietnam in 1982, at 22 - forced to leave her family if she was to remain true to herself, she said.
"I didn't want to escape," Nguyen said. "I wanted to become a doctor in Vietnam. I love my country so much and I don't believe anyplace else would appreciate a good doctor with a good heart as much. I never wanted to leave."
Nguyen said she applied for and was the only person in her province to pass the medical school entrance exam, but she was blocked from attending by a local government official who had a grudge against her family.
"My family wasn't communist enough," Nguyen said. "Plus my father had a disagreement with (this bureaucrat's) business partner once, and those things combined, they wouldn't let me go. So I started to plan my escape."
Nguyen tried and failed to escape twice before succeeding.
"The first time, some of us planned to steal a boat, but too many people showed up and it became too dangerous," Nguyen said. "The second time, we paid for a boat, but it never came. We waited for hours, all night, hiding on the beach. One little boy died when he woke up from his sleeping pill, and his mother had to suffocate him to keep him quiet."
Nguyen said she almost gave up, and in fact, took accounting classes, but didn't like it.
"My uncle convinced my parents that I have a calling and they should let me go if I could find a way," Nguyen said. "Some people my mother knew were planning an escape, and I went with them, even though getting caught would ruin not just my life, but my family's, too."
Nguyen and a friend boarded their secret craft on a beach on the appointed night, and waited for the men to load supplies. However, she said, they were discovered, and the boat hurriedly set sail without the men or the supplies.
"We had to cut the rope," she said, "and 59 women and children, and about 10 older men, left alone. We met some fishermen and they sold us some food and after a week, we were rescued by an American cargo ship.
"They took us to Subic Bay in Manila and we registered as refugees and were sent to a refugee camp," Nguyen added. "The only reason I'm in America is that we were rescued by an American boat."
Nguyen said that without a sponsor in the United States, she could easily have languished in the camp for years, like thousands of others. But fate had other plans.
"You can be in a camp forever if you have no one in another country to sponsor you," Nguyen said. "I had no one outside Vietnam. It was just luck or chance that I got here. Being rescued was like being born a second time. Everyone on the boat felt that way.
"I thought I was so smart and brave and I learned I didn't know anything," Nguyen said. "People died on these trips. Sole survivors ended up eating human flesh. Sometimes the boats were overtaken by Thai pirates and the girls sold into prostitution. It's kind of a miracle that I'm here."
Nguyen said she met her oldest daughter's father in the camp, and moved with him to San Francisco, where he had an aunt. The relationship didn't work out, but Nguyen started working toward achieving the goals that brought her here.
"My only goal was to get into medicine," Nguyen said. "Getting rescued solidified my determination to do something with my life. Nothing was going to stop me."
On welfare, Nguyen took classes at San Francisco City College, where she made grades good enough to earn her scholarships.
After four years, she transferred to the University of California at Davis, where she earned a degree in biochemistry. But by then her second marriage had produced another daughter and another divorce, and study time was at a premium.
"Someone suggested optometry school," Nguyen said. "I volunteered at an office to see what they do, and I liked it. It wasn't as long a program and is still medical-related. It was possible to do as a single mother."
Nguyen said she applied and was accepted to the optometry program at U.C. Berkeley, from which she graduated.
"I like the interpersonal relationships, and there's a lot of variety in the work," Nguyen said. "It's an art and a science, and also involves psychology. It's really interesting."
Nguyen said she specializes in eye exercises or "vision therapy" to strengthen the eye, which works especially well for children, helping improve vision without the use of glasses or surgery. She is also especially good at fitting bifocals and contact lenses and is trained to treat various eye diseases, she said.
So far, she said, it looks like she's going to enjoy practicing in Vallejo. "I'm so glad I bought this practice," Nguyen said. "The people are much nicer here. The practice is already growing from referrals. If you give good service, they appreciate you."
Vallejo Optometry Group is at 2103 Redwood St., Suite 100. For more information, call 554-1773.
By Rachel Raskin Zrihen - Times Herald - January 21, 2004.
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