This story was originally published by the Georgia Asian Times.
The Vietnamese American community in metro Atlanta welcomed the grand opening of a new full service senior care center earlier this month.
Over 1,000 Vietnamese community members, along with guests of county and local officials, participated in the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony. The person responsible for this massive project is Von Tran. She and her team worked tirelessly for over six years behind the scenes to launch the center.
Tran is a transplant from Dallas, Texas and arrived as a young entrepreneur seeking new opportunities in the metro Atlanta area in 1998. She originally studied medicine while pursuing her dream to be a physician.
“Like any good Vietnamese kid, you just follow your parents dreams,” said Tran with a smile. “I quickly realized that I like to take charge of my own destiny and I am not suitable for a rigid corporate career.”
Credit: Georgia Asian Times
Credit: Georgia Asian Times
She started her young real estate business in Cobb County by “flipping” houses. Within a short time, Tran was very successful in her entrepreneurial venture with an average of five transactions per month. She has an eye for opportunity and an acute sense of the property market. Her reputation grew quickly in the Viet community.
Her involvement with senior day care happened by accident. By the early 2000s, Von and a group of close friends had started a non-profit charity aimed at fundraising to assist underprivileged children in Vietnam. She would volunteer her spare time to help raise money to support various religious organizations supporting underprivileged children in Vietnam. The funds were channeled to worthy endeavors such as building schools and paying salaries for teachers in remote underserved countryside.
“I had an awakening moment in 2007 when a senior citizen shared a request with me privately,” said Tran. The senior had asked her to start a senior facility where senior Viets can congregate and meet for social activities together. Many seniors have expressed loneliness due to being left alone at home as their grown children are busy at work and young family members are not engaging with them due to language barriers.
“I soon realized that I had to do something about it. I knew nothing about the senior day care business and jumped right into it without much research,” cited Tran. She initially partnered with a Chinese senior center and tried to learn the trade of the business. Her partner later advised her to open a center to serve the aging Vietnamese community in metro Atlanta.
She decided to open a center dedicated to Vietnamese seniors in June 2007 in Peachtree Corners. The center grew to serve about 100 members with a dedicated staff of 15.
“We were in the red for the first three years of operations. We didn’t know how to take advantage of government support services.”
Tran financed her senior center business out-of-pocket as most of the Viet seniors can’t afford to pay. The center only charges $5 a month per member as a token of service.
“That was the most challenging time and it was stressful dealing with the mounting bills monthly. The center was facing a loss of $30,000 monthly for three years,” said Tran.
With grit and determination, she and her team started applying for government support services for seniors such as Medicaid and Social Security. They had to learn to navigate the bureaucracy and government paperwork in order to assist the seniors to qualify for the programs.
“Since then, we found our footing and grew our confidence in serving the senior Viet community in metro Atlanta,” said Tran.
The Vietnamese population in metro Atlanta has grown exponentially since 2010. Based on the latest 2020 Census Bureau data, there are approximately over 100,000 Vietnamese individuals. This is considered a conservative figure as many believed there are over 150,000 or more due to undercount and lack of participation in the Census count.
“Serving the seniors is my passion. I have achieved so much in life and I wanted to give back to the community. The joy of witnessing precious moments of these seniors having a good time at the center means a lot for me,” said Tran.
Her latest venture is a 26,000 sq. ft. full-service senior center located off Oakbrook Parkway in Norcross. It took her dedicated team and a crew of professional construction team seven months to convert a former call center into a beautiful facility equipped with modern amenities.
The new center named First Senior Center will provide full day care services for seniors, disabled, and physically challenged individuals in their daily lives. The wide range of services include daily health monitoring by qualified nurses, physical therapies, and fitness programs. Tran added unique services by introducing spa massages, hairdressing and beauty salon services on site.
As for recreational activities, singing and dancing sessions are the most popular activities in the Center. Seniors are also taught English and computer classes, especially social media skills, to allow them to communicate with their young family members. Other popular activities are Chinese chess, dominoes, table tennis and painting.
“I wanted the Center to focus on enhancing the spiritual well-being of the seniors in addition to recreational and entertainment during their visit here,” said Tran proudly.
Tran’s team of 32 staff members undergo regular training by the Department of Community Health to carry out their duties. In addition, she expects each of her staff to be courteous and respectful towards the seniors at all times.
“I want them to treat the senior members just like their own family members,” she adds.
Partnering with the Atlanta Community Food Bank (ACFB), Tran also operates a non-profit that hosts a food pantry serving over 3,200 households monthly in the community. It is the second largest food pantry in the state of Georgia to partner with the ACFB.
Tran has not spared any expenses in incorporating modern amenities such as a commercial grade kitchen along with coffee and tea stations, and a boba tea corner in the facility.
The Center has a committed team of 50 loyal volunteers from the Viet community who regularly assist with chores and operations especially during festivals and events. It also currently maintains a fleet of 8 vans to help shuttle the seniors from across metro Atlanta to the Center daily. She projects to add more vans in their transport services in the near future as more members are enrolled in the program.
“It has been a long journey to get to this point. My team and I were sobbing heavily during the opening ceremony when we reflected back the pain and struggles that we had to overcome to reach where we are,” said Von proudly.
Credit: Georgia Asian Times
Credit: Georgia Asian Times
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