Cabramatta’s Dr Kim Lam understands the importance of a balanced lifestyle to maintaining good physical and mental health. She leads by example for her patients.
How long have you been a GP and how long have you been practising in the Fairfield LGA?
I started practicing in Australia in 1987. On 25 July that year. The reason I remember the exact date is that I had my youngest daughter only six weeks before I opened my surgery. I’ve been in Cabramatta the whole time I’ve been a GP.
When/why did you decide you wanted to become a GP?
Way back … I’m a country girl, I lived in a town in the south of Vietnam. The high school where I studied was located next to the town hospital and at that time the war in Vietnam was expanding. I went to the hospital and saw the young men, with their arms and legs up in the traction and I thought, how can I help these people, what sort of career will help? When you are a student, the teacher is an idol, you want to be a teacher. When I saw that, I wanted to become a nurse. I just felt like I had a mission to do something. I studied and studied and instead of becoming a nurse, I became a doctor in my country. When I escaped Vietnam in 1978, I did not think about my career, but then many things happened that led me to be in that career again in Australia.
What do you love most about being a GP/what part of the job gives you the most satisfaction?
As I mentioned earlier, I felt I had a mission to help. I studied medicine, so I perform what I’ve studied to help patients. About 10 years ago when I was still working full-time, I mainly focused on physical illness. After my parents died, I started to see things very differently. I started to see the way people suffer, not just in the body but in the mind. That thing that I didn’t want or like to happen offered me a new era – it changed how I live and how I serve the community and my patients. The more I go in that direction, the more I understand myself and the more I understand my patients, my neighbours, my children. When patients come to see me now, they see no stress so they feel relaxed when they come and talk to me. The people with breast cancer or terminal illnesses they come in, they cry but when they walk out, they smile. It is a reward for me and when you ask what I like most, that’s what I’ll tell you.
What is the most important thing you/your practice contributes to this community?
I treat patients with kindness and believe understanding the whole patient down to their roots is very important. I don’t just contribute to individual patients but I see them as a family. I’ve been here 30 years and have seen the now elderly patients, then the daughter of the elderly patient and now the children and grandchildren – four generations. I tell my receptionist you’re here to help, you treat the patients in a way that when they think of you, they feel happy, every time they come to the surgery they want to chat or share with you. That is your success. My surgery now is just like a family.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
When I was young, even 15 years ago, I worked seven days a week. Now I work less, so I spend time with my family, my children and do more charity work. I go nearly every year to Vietnam or Cambodia, first with Vietnam Vision, a Vietnamese newspaper group, and later with other groups. I swim, I do yoga and meditation.
Tell me about your ideal day…
Every patient who comes in is happy – happy to come in and happy that I’ve given enough time and care for them when they walk out. My business hours are 9am to 4pm, but I usually come here at 8.30am to do the blood tests and come out of the surgery at nearly 7pm because I cannot say ‘no’ when they need me, I just stay. My ideal day is whatever comes, I just take it as it is, and I fulfil it.
What do you love most about Fairfield/Cabramatta?
My patients are compassionate and not demanding. I also love the food around here! I don’t have to cook – my patients bring me plenty of food which I appreciate.
What advice do you give your patients about maintaining good health?
Just look at me! They know that I have balance in my life. That I do exercise, that I meditate, that I live free of stress and take care of other people. I tell them to have gratitude. I tell them I sit here on this chair and I’m very grateful to the person who made the chair, their parents, their teacher who taught them the technique to build the chair. Feel the connection, that way you never feel alone or depressed. Have kindness, listen and care – you never lose when you have these things.