Virginia Mary Lockett an American rehabilitation therapist and a volunteer at the central city’s Traditional Medicine Hospital, receives the Friendship Medal on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Vietnamese Physicians' Day. Photo courtesy of Lê Hùng

ĐÀ NÃNG — An American rehabilitation therapist and a volunteer at the central city’s Traditional Medicine Hospital, Virginia Mary Lockett, has been given the Friendship Medal by the Party General Secretary Tô Lâm, for her contribution to healthcare and friendship ties between the US and Việt Nam.

The volunteer was among 20 doctors and medical staff in the city receiving awards and prizes for their best contributions in health care sector through the year on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of Vietnamese Physicians' Day (February 27, 1955 - February 27, 2025).

President of the Steady Footstep organisation, the American has been volunteering in Việt Nam since 2007.

She has been serving them with a rehabilitation service for people with poliomyelitis, stroke and serious injuries at the hospital, while also making clothes for disadvantaged patients.

Mary sold all her property in the US to carry on her voluntary work in Việt Nam, bringing love to the underprivileged people and patients.

She was named as the 'Sewing Lady' in a poem by Phan Công Tuấn in honour of her contributions in helping people over the decades.

Virginia Mary Lockett, an American therapist, makes clothes and items to support patients at Đà Nẵng City's Traditional Medicine Hospital. She has been working as a therapist and volunteer in Đà Nẵng for decades. Photo courtesy of Phan Công Tuấn

The poem was written by Tuấn and translated into English by Ian Bui.

The Sewing Lady

The Lady sits and sews

Not shirts for her husband

Not skirts for her children

…..

Her feet pedal to the old machine

Click-clacking echoes from a distant past

Each patient line of simple thread

Stiches into the cloth of night

……

The Sewing Lady

From Virginia on America’s East Coast

Land of eight US presidents

Now calls Đà Nẵng home

For sixteen years

She has sat and sewn

Just she volunteered

To help rehab thousands of stroke patients…

Đà Nẵng currently has 12 hospitals including four international standard hospitals – the Đà Nẵng General Hospital, Family Hospital, Hoàn Mỹ-Đà Nẵng and VinMec Đà Nẵng – providing health service for local Vietnamese and foreigners.

More than 1,000 doctors are working at public and private hospitals and more than 620 consulting rooms and medical care centres are operating.

The city’s general hospital also assigned the first 200-bed cardiology centre to offer cardiovascular examinations, treatment and surgeries for patients in the city, and the sick from the central and Central Highland provinces.

Đà Nẵng was the first locality in central Việt Nam with a dedicated oncology hospital with more than 600 beds and an investment of US$71.4 million.