White Mass celebrates health-care professionals

Friday, Oct. 16, 2015

SALT LAKE CITY — Medical and health-care professionals and students attended the third annual White Mass in the Cathedral of the Madeleine Oct. 10, sponsored by the local chapter of the Catholic Medical Association. 

Father Martin Diaz, Cathedral of the Madeleine pastor, celebrated the Mass and offered those in the health care field a blessing to remain faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church and in recommitting themselves to be instruments of Christ’s peace and healing. 

In reflecting on the readings, Fr. Diaz said in his homily, “They focus on what we have or have not done, but we must get outside of ourselves and understand the other. It is a healthcare workers’ job to take care of other people; to focus on the other – what a gift of stewardship. The Good Samaritan is that helper physician.” 

Following the Mass, guest speaker Dr. Tan Tran shared his story of escaping from South Vietnam in 1979 as a boat person when he was 16. Living in a refugee camp, he realized there was a need for medical care for refugees, he said. After being in the camp, he escaped on another treacherous journey in a boat to Hong Kong before going to Iowa, where he lived with foster parents for about a year before going to the State University of New York in Buffalo. There he met his wife and he converted to Catholicism.

After attending the Ross University School of Medicine, he completed his residency at the University of Utah and graduated in 2003. He opened a practice in West Valley City, where he serves a large Vietnamese refugee population, as well as Hispanics and other minority communities in the area. 

Tran and his wife, Khanh, are members of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish..  

“I chose family medicine because I like to help all folks and I see patients from newborn to geriatric,” he said. “Most of these folks don’t like going to the doctor and they often refuse care; I have to spend a lot of time explaining to them the importance of prevention, and I work hard to get them to commit to their treatments.” 

Many of the patients have medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, complications from smoking, drug addiction and hepatitis, which is common in Asia, Tran said.

It was noted by an audience member that Tran has a special connection with his patients; he has a cultural understanding, was a refugee and has family members who also were Vietnamese military refugees. 

“Trust is a key component, Tran said. “I talk to them and we build a trust, but they have no choice but to follow my advice.” 

Nathan Currier, a geriatric psychiatrist at the St. Joseph Villa Marian Center, said he was glad to attend the White Mass. “I liked how Fr. Diaz wove trust into his homily and the importance of trust between the health-care workers and the patient and their families,” he said. “There also has to be trust in our colleagues and in the medical field. I have to trust those I work with in order to do my job. Dr. Tran talked more about trust and its importance. For me it is trying to keep a God-centered treatment in my practice and provide the same level of care to all my patients.” 

What struck Dr. Catherine Stokes, a pediatrician and White Mass coordinator, about the event was “renewing our vows,” she said. “It brings us back to why we’re doing this; you can forget along the way and it’s good to remember. It is interesting to think about the Good Samaritan parable as physicians and how we do step into that gap.”

Rose Zagal, a nursing student, would like to work with underserved populations, she said. “Hearing the needs specific to them, seeing how I might fit into that area and hearing Dr. Tran’s expertise has been really interesting.”