Nest Easy Interview: John Nguyen – Immigration – Making America Great
John Nguyen of Williamsburg has been named Senior Vice President of Business Development at Simply Connect, a Healthcare Information Exchange (HIE) and Healthcare Technology Solutions Company designed specifically for the senior care and related healthcare industries.
John is well known to everyone in the assisted living and memory care community in Virginia from his former position as the Divisional Director of Business Development of the Southeast Division at Brookdale Senior Living.
John was born in South Vietnam and credits his leadership skills to his late father, Captain Thomas (Dzung) Nguyen, who distinguished himself in the Army of the Republic of Viet Nam. The Nguyen family narrowly escaped the communist North Vietnamese takeover of Saigon in 1975. His family was part of the “at-risk Vietnamese” community who would likely be treated harshly if captured by the North Vietnamese communists.
In the closing days of the Vietnam War, Captain Nguyen was part of a heroic group of South Vietnamese who organized a naval evacuation of Vietnamese civilians and military personnel from Saigon to wait for U.S. naval vessels. Captain Nguyen’s naval evacuation worked in concert with a U.S. helicopter evacuation of Saigon named Operation Frequent Wind.
Captain Nguyen utilized his fleet of South Vietnamese Army rivercraft to facilitate an overwater evacuation of some 2800+ South Vietnamese military personnel and their Helicopter evacuation Saigon family members. Many of them narrowly escaped with nothing more than the clothes they were wearing that day.
Operation Frequent Wind was a 19-hour air evacuation from April 29, to April 30, 1975. It involved 81 U.S. helicopters that rescued over 6,000 Vietnamese from Saigon and ferried them to the safety of U.S. Ships. It was the largest helicopter evacuation in history. The North Vietnamese Army tanks were breaking down the gates of Saigon as American helicopters were ferrying Americans and Vietnamese out of the city.
The story of John’s father, family, and countrymen is one of valor, sacrifice, and great courage. John feels an indescribable sense of pride and gratitude to his father for saving his family and neighbors from the North Vietnamese communists and securing their citizenship in the United States. The Nguyen family is grateful for their citizenship and is making a fabulous contribution to the growth of our nation.
Let’s talk to John.
Nest Easy:
Tell us a little about yourself, John.
John:
I was born in Saigon, South Vietnam, and grew up in Newport News. Majored in commercial art and computer graphics.
Nest Easy:
What age were you when your family escaped from your Vietnam homeland and immigrated to the United States?
John:
I was only 10 months old when we fled S. Vietnam.
Nest Easy:
What family members came with you to the U.S.?
John:
My father was able to get our entire immediate family out (my father, mother, 2 older sisters, and an older brother), along with both of his parents and his 7 siblings and their families as well.
Nest Easy:
What do you remember about the experience of leaving Vietnam and/or coming to America?
John:
I was very young at that time, so I only remember the stories that my parents and aunts/uncles told us. But by those accounts, it was an extremely difficult journey with many hardships for all who were involved. My brother and I got very sick and almost didn’t make it. There was a lot of oppressing sun and heat, very few rations of food and water, and the conditions aboard the American barges that carried us were brutal.
Nest Easy:
How do your family, and the Vietnamese community reconcile the loss of leaving everything behind in their homeland, but finding safety and success in America?
John:
As expected, it was a difficult transition for them. They literally lost everything they owned, their homes, their careers, many of their friends, and their country.
But my father was a true patriot and was fiercely loyal to America and instilled that loyalty, patriotism, and love of America in all of us. We worked to become American citizens as soon as John & his children Williamsburg we were able.
Nest Easy:
Can you share any of your late father’s thoughts about his contribution to the Saigon evacuation or the opportunity to save his family by coming to America?
John:
To be honest, he rarely discussed any of that. We knew that he was in command of the South Vietnamese riverine fleet and that he traveled to America (Ft. Eustis in Newport News, VA) many times to assist and advise in the training of the American Riverine regarding strategy and navigation of the Vietnamese rivers and Mekong Delta, but I didn’t know the extent of his contribution and leadership during the evacuation until after his death. At his funeral, hundreds of Vietnamese and Americans who had worked with him over there came out to give their respects. It was there that many of these folks told me these stories and shared his exploits.
Nest Easy:
You are as American as apple pie and very successful.
Do many of your friends or colleagues know of your family’s harrowing and heroic experience?
John:
Only my closest friends know. My father never talked about it much and always taught us to be introspective and humble in our actions and in our words, so I don’t talk about it much.
Nest Easy:
Tell us about your new company Simply Connect. What is information sharing in senior living all about?
John:
Simply Connect has perfected the technology needed to securely and safely share a patient’s personal health records with various members of their extended care team (Physicians, specialists, hospitals, pharmacists, Home Health care, Sr. Living Communities, rehabs, POA, etc.), and more importantly, can connect these separate, disparate systems for interoperability. We do all of this with the ultimate goal of empowering the patient to be much more involved and have much more access and control of their own healthcare. this provides a much better overall patient experience as well as streamlines the overall care coordination process amongst their various healthcare providers.
Nest Easy:
Tell us about your role as Senior Vice President of Business Development
John:
My primary directive is to build high-level partnerships among the many members of a complete healthcare team. It is my job to seek out these partnerships and to spread the knowledge of these amazing solutions and to illustrate how we can all work together to provide a much better overall patient experience.
Nest Easy:
What is Care Management Reimagined?
John:
Transparency, efficiency, ease of use, clear communication, direct care team coordination, and real person-centered care. Our technology connects all separate members of a care team and allows them to easily inter-connect and share information to provide the best possible level of care for a patient. All without portal windows. We not only bring the patient into the fold and give them much more control and input in their own care, but we also do a lot to reduce inefficiencies, redundancies, employee fatigue, and unneeded costs for the Healthcare systems. Synergy would be the word that comes to mind here.
Nest Easy:
Many people are concerned about data breaches. How safe are your systems?
John:
That is an understandable concern. Our HIE is HIPPA compliant and meets the highest standards of data security.
Nest Easy:
Did your position at Brookdale provide a foundation for your new position at Simply Connect?
John:
Absolutely. My role at Brookdale taught me so much about the senior care and healthcare industries, and most importantly, it gave me a lot of unique insight into the gaps in service and customer care that currently exists in these industries.
Nest Easy:
Simply Connect seems to be leading us into the future of healthcare information management. Is that an accurate comment?
John:
100% accurate. I feel strongly that we, as healthcare service providers, owe it to our clients and patients to provide them with the best possible level of customer service, communication, and care possible. Simply Connect has the solutions to the most common complaints and problems that I see and experience across the industry, and I have made it my personal crusade to bring these solutions to the forefront and to help to drive the change that will make the industry much better all around, for everyone involved. Why would you not provide your customers with the best possible experience that you can give them if the technology exists to make that happen??
Nest Easy:
Where do you see yourself in five years?
John:
I see myself continuing to help lead the charge in connecting up all of these disparate systems and getting every patient connected in in charge of their own healthcare efforts. I hope to have the entire country connected up at that time.
Nest Easy:
Tell us about your family?
John:
Married to Helen for thirteen years and I have three children; Mason age 10, Isabella 8, and Colin 5. We met in New York when I worked for Enterprise Rent-A-Car.
Nest Easy:
What attracted you to the assisted living industry?
John:
I went through a long process trying to find help and placement for my mother-in-law who lives in Long Island. It was a crazy bad experience. I didn’t want anyone else’s mom to go through the same thing. I figured there had to be a better way to get resources to the public.
Nest Easy:
Did you play sports or have after-school activities?
John:
I started training in the martial arts at age 4, so my extra-curricular activities were based around that.
My father was my first instructor. All of my brothers and sisters trained. We didn’t have an option. He felt that discipline, loyalty, confidence, and the ability to defend one’s self were of utmost importance. My brother and I both own our own martial arts schools today.
Nest Easy:
Did you have a role model, mentor or guiding principal when you were growing-up?
John:
My father. Because of him, I am a life-long martial artist and still involved in teaching. I pretty much live by that lifestyle and code.
Nest Easy:
Do you have any special organizations that you support?
John:
Alzheimer’s Association, Veteran Programs, Women’s Self-defense program, our military, as well as local and federal law enforcement agencies.
Nest Easy:
Who is your favorite women of note and why?
John:
Condoleezza Rice. I respect what she accomplished, what she stands for, and the way she carries herself.
Nest Easy:
What is your favorite dessert?
John:
Red Wine
Nest Easy:
Do you celebrate Halloween?
John:
My family loves Halloween. All holidays really. Kids love decorating and dressing up. We are like the Griswold’s of Williamsburg. You should come by for Halloween or Christmas and see the light show!
Nest Easy:
What’s the craziest thing you have ever done?
John:
I used to be really into speed bikes…motorcycles…and have had way too many close calls and crazy rides to list.
Nest Easy:
Do you have any advice for would be entrepreneurs?
John:
You must be yourself and follow what you believe. Don’t be afraid of failure and don’t be afraid to stand your ground and hold true to your own principals. Win or lose, you always learn.
Thank you so much John.
