Born and raised in Calgary to Vietnamese immigrants, Tony Huynh is a Registered Nurse perpetuating his family’s hard-work- ing culture in casual positions on Unit 47 at FMC and at Agape Hospice. He exudes gratitude and tranquility while wielding dizzying positivity that touches the hearts of patients throughout their journey. A strong and humble foundation and a genuine love of people is arguably no more apparent than in his continued work as a Nursing Attendant in the CVICU at FMC. Diversity, individuality and serenity are traits woven throughout his character and used to balance the busyness of life in the city. When not at work Tony can be found participating in any number of adventures including the pursuit of self-mastery and divine spirituality through the Benedictine congregation.

Tell me about your family...

My family is the Chinese ex-patriot community from Vietnam. My family came over from Vietnam as new immigrants and refugees during the Vietnam war. This was at a the height of communism after French colonial rule fell. My mom and dad were lucky in that they were able to come directly from Vietnam. Other family members weren’t so. My aunt had to flee Vietnam and ended up in a refugee camp in Hong Kong for 2-3 years until my mom was able to sponsor her over here.

What led to your interest to pursue nursing?

I started studying invertebrate zoology. I never thought of nursing until 3rd or 4th year into my zoology degree. Something just didn’t feel right. Looking back I think at that time I yearned for a profession that allowed me to be of service in a different way. That’s what really drew me to nursing; the human aspect.

Where did you go to school?

I applied to the University of Calgary Bachelor of Nursing transfer program. It was a two year accelerated program. At that time the program had two streams; one for degree holders and the other for non-degree holders. The difference between the two were simply the requirements (amount of credits, GPA etc). There was no real difference in the education. I began in 2012 and graduated in 2014.

Where was your first RN job?

At Agape hospice. I had selected Agape for my final focus and got a job there after graduation and my return from England.

What led to the interest in palliative care?

I knew I always wanted to explore end-of-life and palliative care. At times I’ve felt like end-of-life and palliative care has been underemphasized. It’s a very important aspect in someone’s life. As a labour and delivery nurse eases the transition of life into this world, so we in palliative care ease the transition of life into the next world.

What was of interest in England?

A monastery. I went to the Isle of Wight which is a tiny island off of the coast of Portsmouth. There’s a Benedictine monastery there, inhabited by 9 monks.

Why England? Why a monastery?

I had always wanted to travel somewhere after graduation, but I didn’t want to travel just for the sake of travelling. I was perusing through Chapters one day and came across and stack of books. One caught my eye called, “And Then They Were Nuns: Adventures in a Cloistered Life” by Canadian Author Jane Christmas. The premise of the book was about her exploring her journey of whether she was “nun material” or not. One of the places she visited was Quarr Abbey on the Isle of Wight. After reading the book, I couldn’t stop thinking about Quarr Abbey.

I looked up their website and saw they were offering internships for young people. I got in touch with the intern master, applied, and did an interview over the phone with him and the head of the monastery called the Abbot. Two weeks later I was buying my ticket over to the monastery. I stayed for two months and recently returned in the spring from a three-month trip.

What is a Benedictine monk?

Benedictine monks are an order of Catholic monks.

It originated from St. Benedict, the father of Western Monasticism. St. Benedict was a monk in Italy who lived in the city and felt a calling to have a deeper life of silence and solitude. He ended up leaving the city and going out into the wilderness as many monastics do. He founded this order of monks in the catholic church that has continued to now.

Are there rules to becoming a Benedictine monk?

I’ll highlight two major ones. The whole way of life of the Benedictine congregation is set out by what is the rule of St. Benedict, which he wrote ages ago, which specifies how they live day-to-day. It identifies at what time they have to wake up for communal prayer, how they approach silent prayer, things like that. When someone professes to become a Benedictine monk, they have vows attached to their profession. The vow of stability, the vow of obedience, and the vow of conversion of life. Stability meaning set and stable to one community, in one location, in one monastery for the rest of their life. Obedience meaning becoming obedient to the Abbot. Conversion of life meaning a vow to poverty, chastity, and things like that. It’s a whole change of life, attitude and perspective.

What was the internship like?

The premise of the internship program was to provide young men with an opportunity to experience the monastic life and to get a better enrichment of the spiritual life. There were four of us. We lived the monastic life as best as we could. We attended prayer services seven times a day, did manual work, and went to conferences facilitated by the monks aimed at providing spiritual direction.

Tell me about Unit 47...

It’s a roughly 29 bed palliative short stay unit called the Intensive Palliative Care Unit (IPCU). The average length of stay is approximately a week or so. We specialize in helping patients with difficult to manage symptoms such as pain crisis, intractable nausea, etc. Many of our palliative patients are under a palliative care attending physician but we also see patients from a wide variety of services. It’s a common myth that patients have to be actively dying to be admitted to the IPCU. I find that when people hear the word palliative care at once they begin to think of end-of-life care or actively dying. Palliative care actually begins when we’re born. It’s a philosophy and something that can be done within and outside of end-of-life care. Of course we do palliative care towards the end of life phase and many people die on the unit, but we do transfer a lot of patients home and to assisted living, LTC, and hospice.

How is the Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID) program being utilized on Unit 47?

MAID has only been a recent addition to our unitand we have yet to experience a patient undergo the final provision of the MAID program on Unit 47. Having it as an option for patients on Unit 47 helps those familiar with us and with the environment, experience the provision in a place they’re comfortable. In the months leading up to MAID becoming official on our unit, the staff were provided good education sessions. Everything from ethics and processes, right through to spiritual care. In the months leading up to the introduction of MAID, our management team asked everyone on the care team how comfortable they were with the process just to be aware of how everyone felt about the provision so as to plan sensitively when it does occur.

What do you like to do in Calgary in your spare time?

I keep up a very regular meditation practice thankfully to my experience at the monastery. I’m an avid baker of sourdough bread, I like to knit socks, and I love doing ceramics. I appreciate how close we are to nature and how forgiving our weather can be despite the snow.

I love running along the Bow River and love checking out the new food scene. Japanese cuisine and bubble tea is big these days. We have really good middle eastern and Lebanese foods in Calgary as well. The food scene is very diverse.

What is your favourite movie? TV show? Author? Place to shop?

I really like the new Mr. Rogers documentary called “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”. The Simpsons is my favourite show. As strange as the humour can be sometimes it is very very witty. I read mostly non-fiction but my favourite author is Sir Arthur Conan Doyle with his Sherlock Holmes series. My favourite place to shop is the Market Collective.

Talk about your participation with Local 115 at the Calgary Pride Parade...

As someone who is part of the LGBTQ community, and as someone that’s experienced discrimination, it is beautiful to have something like the Pride Parade. Having something concrete to identify with is really quite affirming, however one’s identity is multifaceted; what is part of me isn’t what is all of me. The Pride Parade is an event that rings very true to my heart and I couldn’t be happier to be involved.

Why is the union important to you?

A teacher told me that as a nurse there are four major things we’re called to do in our profession. To remember we’re an instrument in healing, to provide care and support, to educate, and to advocate. I take advocacy for my patients very seriously. The union advocates for us as nurses so that we have what we need to advocate well for our patients.

For more on this Member Spotlight please check out our UNA Local 115 Newsletter.