In 1975 just before the fall of Saigon, four-year-old Yen Tran and her family were airlifted out of Vietnam. Hardship was not new to Tran’s father, an interpreter for the U.S. Embassy, who lost his own father as a 10-year-old boy. Filled with hope for a better future, the political refugees waived goodbye to their homeland and entered America with their clothes and memories.
“My dad was a big believer in education,” Tran said. “He was the first in his family to graduate from high school. He was raised by a strong, single mother, so there was never a question whether women could do as much as men. He told us, ‘You have to go to graduate school. In this society you have to be self-reliant.’”
One of six children, Tran heeded her father’s sage counsel and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology at the University of Dallas in Irving and a law degree from The University of Houston Law Center. Recruited by a large law firm, she worked in corporate and regulatory health care. The position was lucrative and helped her pay off student loans but required long hours away from her children.
“I spent hours drafting documents, sometimes until midnight, and the next day the client would want to negotiate other terms and make changes,” Tran said. “I decided the time I spent away from my kids had to be meaningful. I was looking for a human contribution.”
The Right Time for a Career Change
Years before, Tran considered a career in occupational therapy (OT) but by then everything was in place for law school. Since that time, she witnessed the powerful impact of this field on individuals on the autism spectrum. She observed family and friends who received early OT intervention and, sadly, the struggles of those who did not receive the treatment.
“It changed these children’s lives,” Tran said. “The more I went back and looked at occupational therapy, the more it resonated with me. This field would allow me to coach and guide a person to physically and cognitively function better.”
Tran decided to take the prerequisites she needed for a master’s degree program in OT at Collin College. A mother of four, she began taking one class at a time in fall 2012.
“Dr. Amy Helms was my first professor at Collin College, and I will never forget her,” Tran said. “All of the professors at Collin are excellent. They give examples and teach you how to apply them. The classes are small, the focus is on teaching, and I felt very supported. The quality of the teaching will really prepare you and give you a good mastery of the material in the field you will be studying. The professors are approachable, and there is a collaborative environment among traditional and nontraditional students from all walks of life.”
Making a Difference
In May 2017, Tran earned a Master of Occupational Therapy degree from Texas Woman’s University. Currently, she works in the inpatient rehabilitation unit at UT Southwestern Zale Lipshy University Hospital.
“At UTSW every minute you spend with a patient is optimized,” Tran said. “When you are in an environment like that it pushes you to be your best and provide the best for your patients.”
Tran explains that with OT everything comes down to the brain.
“The brain can adapt and change,” she said. “You may lose basic skills to take care of yourself with injury, but because there are salient neuromotor patterns that drive tasks that people do daily without thinking about it, these are the first skills to come back. It takes 10,000 repetitions to master a skill, and all patients deserve the opportunity to redevelop the ability to optimize their independence and fully participate in a meaningful life,” she said.
Today, Tran has seen countless individuals who have benefitted from OT, like one patient who re-learned how to dress herself.
“We spent an hour putting on her shirt,” Tran said. “By the end of it, she was crying because she could do it without any help. Occupational therapists help people with their basic needs and give them the self-dignity to be who they are. We are all human, and at one time or another we will find ourselves needing help. I draw life and meaning from this kind of work,” she said.
Today, Tran doesn’t wonder whether the time she spends away from her children is impactful. She receives continual affirmation that she chose the correct career.
“One morning I checked on a patient who had lost her ability to walk,” Tran said. “She said, ‘I had a dream that I was moving my legs.’ I looked under the sheet, and I said, ‘It is not a dream.’ She had regained some movement at her feet and knees. She said, ‘You are like an angel. I saw your eyes when I woke up, and now I am moving my legs.’ It was really emotionally moving to share that moment with her.”
Tran and the patient spent the next hour practicing standing up and sitting down to re-engage neuro-motor pathways.
“She was crying because she could pull herself up with equipment and stay standing for several seconds, and she hadn’t been able to do that in months.”
For more information about classes at Collin College visit www.collin.edu
Reprinted with permission of Allen Image