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Women secure place in surgery
By JIM ROSS, Times Staff Writer CRYSTAL RIVER -- Quehuong Pham has something in common with many Floridians: She came here from a Northern state because she wanted to live in a warm climate and because her parents might retire to the Sunshine State some day. But Pham also enjoys a distinction all her own: She is the first female general surgeon on staff at Seven Rivers Community Hospital. Pham established her one-woman practice in December and is settling in as the fourth member of the hospital's general surgical staff. Pham said she feels at home and is pleased with the reception that the hospital and medical community have granted her. "Everyone has been super nice," she said. The feeling is mutual. "She's truly a pleasure to work with," said Cyndi Heitzman, chief nursing officer at Seven Rivers. "She's extremely energetic and personable. She's a real patient advocate and spends a lot of time with her patients. We've been very impressed with her. We're pleased to have her on staff." Pham downplayed the significance of being the first female general surgeon at the hospital. "I kind of expected that," she said. "There still aren't too many of us around, especially in a small Florida town." The road Pham took to Crystal River was long and unusual, to say the least. It started a world away. Pham grew up in Vietnam. Her father, a doctor, was serving in the South Vietnamese Air Force during the last days of the Vietnam War. In 1975, he was sent to Texas for training. While he was away, the war closed in on his family. Pham, then about 6 years old, was frightened by the heavy artillery fire. "I just remember diving under beds," she said. Military friends advised the elder Dr. Pham to return home and bring his family to safety. He did so, hurrying them to an airport and arranging a plane ride to Guam. Three days later, Saigon fell. In Guam, the Phams spent one month at a refugee camp. "I don't know why I remember this," Pham said, "but they had rice and salt and pepper." From there, they traveled to Michigan to stay with relatives, then to California, then back to Michigan. The Phams lived in Pontiac, Flint, Hillsdale and then finally, Toledo, Ohio. Pham learned English the hard way: She was enrolled in first grade without any knowledge of the language and had to learn as she went. Her father was an emergency room doctor, so "I pretty much grew up in a medical family," Pham said. Still, she was not pressured to choose medicine as a career; she made the choice on her own. After graduating from the University of Toledo in 1991, Pham completed medical school at the Medical College of Ohio, which also is in Toledo. Like all medical students, she had a chance to sample all sorts of specialties. Why did she choose to specialize in general surgery? "I think it suits my personality better than anything else," Pham said. "I like the variety. I don't like the same thing everyday." Pham completed her general surgery residency at Western Pennsylvania Hospital in Pittsburgh. There were two other women in her residency group, and other women beyond that in other parts of the program, "so there weren't a whole lot of problems in terms of attitude or perception," she said. In August 2000, after seeking a Florida job, Pham took a post at a large Pinellas County multispecialty group, but not before considering a move to Citrus County. Pham had phone conversations with doctors at Inverness Surgical Association and was set to arrange a face-to-face interview. But she called off the plans after accepting the Pinellas job. Little did Pham know she would wind up in Citrus County after all just one year later. Pham said the management company that owned the Pinellas practice went bankrupt. That development prompted her to look for a new position. Seven Rivers needed a surgeon, and Pham didn't want to leave the west coast of Florida. "I didn't really want to move too far," she said. Pham set up shop at 730 SE Fifth Ter., sharing office space with another Seven Rivers surgeon, Dr. Juanito Taboada. She said she didn't realize how close she would be to Inverness until she arrived. General surgeons handle all sorts of surgeries, from gallbladders to breast surgery. They typically don't handle bone, brain or heart surgery. Pham also does not perform lung surgery. Even though they all maintain independent practices, the four Seven Rivers surgeons share "call" responsibility, which means they rotate responsibilities for handling after-hours emergencies. Pham is busy these days sending announcements, taking out advertisements and otherwise letting the community know she has arrived. Pham even held a general open house on Friday. "It's starting to build up, slowly but surely," she said of her practice. Pham also enjoys singing, and she has performed with a church choir and chorus. She would like to do the same here.
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