Thriving in the Age of Disruption

How Fulfilling a Greater Purpose in Life Can Make You Happier: Dr. Ton van der Velden (Vietnam)

January 20, 2023 Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra & Dr. Ton van der Velden Season 1 Episode 30
Thriving in the Age of Disruption
How Fulfilling a Greater Purpose in Life Can Make You Happier: Dr. Ton van der Velden (Vietnam)
Show Notes Transcript

Dr. Ramesh has on her show today a man who's not just his words. A man of true actions, of rigour and sincerity. Dr. Ton van der Velden is a medical doctor from Holland, with over 30 years' experience working on health care systems across Asia. Today, he calls Hanoi (Vietnam) home, where he has founded and runs home nursing care companies.

Those who know Ton will find him unflappable. Join Dr. Ramesh to hear Ton's story in his own steadfast voice, which positively affirms the value and potential of being human.

To learn more about the entrepreneurial mindset with Dr. Ramesh, get your copy of The Big Jump into Entrepreneurship 2.0 on Amazon.com or www.Dr-Ramesh.com.

If you're interested in building crisis resilience, Dr. Ramesh will be launching her new book on the crisis ready mindset in the first half of 2023. Make sure you follow Dr. Ramesh on LinkedIn so that you’ll get her new book alert!

Host: Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra, Author, Podcast Host and Founder of Talent Leadership Crucible

Guest Speaker: Dr. Ton van der Velden, Founder & Director,  Viet UC home nursing care companies

#EntrepreneurialMindset #Hanoi #Vietnam #Holland #VietnamAustraliaFamilyHealthServices #Dr.RameshRamachandra #TheBigJumpintoEntrepreneurship2.0 #CrisisReadyMindset #TalentLeadershipCrucible #Thriving #AgeofDisruption #SexualReproductiveHealth #FamilyPlanning #Pathfinder #MCNV #Dr.TonvanderVelden #DoctorsWithoutBorders

To learn more about the entrepreneurial mindset with Dr. Ramesh, get your copy of The Big Jump into Entrepreneurship 2.0 on Amazon.com or www.Dr-Ramesh.com.

If you're interested in building crisis resilience, Dr. Ramesh will be launching her new book on the crisis ready mindset in the first half of 2023. Make sure you follow Dr. Ramesh on LinkedIn so that you’ll get her new book alert!

Host: Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra, Author, Podcast Host and Founder of Talent Leadership Crucible

Guest Speaker: Dr. Ton van der Velden, Founder & Director,  Viet UC home nursing care companies

#EntrepreneurialMindset #Hanoi #Vietnam #Holland #VietnamAustraliaFamilyHealthServices #Dr.RameshRamachandra #TheBigJumpintoEntrepreneurship2.0 #CrisisReadyMindset #TalentLeadershipCrucible #Thriving #AgeofDisruption #SexualReproductiveHealth #FamilyPlanning #Pathfinder #MCNV #Dr.TonvanderVelden #DoctorsWithoutBorders

Ho Lai Yun 00:00

Hello and Welcome to Thriving in the Age of Disruption. Today, Dr. Ramesh has on her show a man who's not just his words. A man of true actions, of rigour and sincerity. Dr. Ton van der Velden is a medical doctor originally from Holland, with over 30 years' experience working on sexual and reproductive health system strengthening across Asia. Today he calls Hanoi in Vietnam home, where he has founded and runs home nursing care agencies. 

Those who know Ton will find him unflappable. He doesn't flinch in face of danger and crises. Rather he simply presses firmly on, working to solve problems to make the world a more humane place. We’re glad you’re here to join Dr. Ramesh to hear Ton's story, in his own steadfast voice.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 00:50

Ton, welcome to the Thriving in the Age of Disruption podcast series. I'm really excited to have this conversation with you. I wanted to start off by having you introduce yourself to our listeners. Please share about your background and family and where you're living.

Dr. Ton van der Velden 01:05

I'm a medical doctor. I was born and raised educated in Holland for the most part. And after my internships and residencies, I started work for Doctors Without Borders, first in Somalia, very briefly, and then later in Cambodia, that was supposed to be a brief job. But I ended up staying in Cambodia for eight years, while I made the transition from being a medical doctor, a surgeon, and going to more public health oriented work. I did a lot of consulting in the region, mostly in Southeast Asia. And then when I was in my early 40s, I met this wonderful woman, settled down, married, and we lived and worked in Egypt for a number of years. I had two daughters there, we have moved to Vietnam, had a son there. And we've stayed in Vietnam and working for non-profits for about 10 years. After those 10 years, there really wasn't a lot of need for my kind of non-profit work, and we started for-profit home care.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 04:04

Thank you very much for that comprehensive introduction and preview into the different things that you have done in your life before you have now become an entrepreneur.

I recently wrote an updated version of the book I wrote about 20 years ago. I say that, more than starting and running a business, which is entrepreneurship, what is critical in today's age is to have an entrepreneurial mindset. I define entrepreneurial mindset as someone who is being resourceful in life. So if you have a problem, you're trying to figure out what to do, how to pivot, how to adapt. You're also then able to deal with uncertainty or manage risk. But most importantly, you're able to bring value to creating something which was not there before. You’ve had this journey where you've moved from being a medical doctor, to someone who went into public service and consulting work, then to NGO work and now to being an entrepreneur. What was that whole motivation in all these moves. 

Dr. Ton van der Velden 03:09

Let's start in Cambodia, where I ended up in the early 90s. After my residency years, I was doing basic surgery and obstetrics and gynecology there in a provincial hospital and training Cambodian doctors. That was very much, if you will, medicine on a retail basis, providing one-on-one care. I distinctly remember doing a Cesarean Section for a woman and it was her 13th pregnancy. This was a very poor family and in tears, she asked me before the Cesarean if I could please make it so that she didn't have any more children. And so of course, I did a Tubal Ligation at the same time. For her that was a very important moment that she was no longer tied to her reproductive role in life, but there were other possibilities. That inspired me to start a small family planning program in the province where I was working at the time. That was not particularly easy, because Cambodia still had no family planning program. And in fact, there was policy to grow the population as fast as possible. For me, that was a moment where I thought, “Well, I can keep doing medicine on a retail basis and one-on-one doctor, one patient. But maybe what I should be doing is do more of these family planning programs and work more in public health, because I'd be able to reach more people.” That idea of reaching scale was very attractive to me, to be able to have more of an impact on the world around me. And so I went back to school and did a Master's in Public Health, and was fairly convinced that investment in family planning and birth control, and also female education are really the key to helping people, not just in health care, but also in lifting them out of poverty and emancipating and strengthening females. So that was the next 30 years or so of my life, I've spent in trying to start up and strengthen family planning programs.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 05:00

Wow, that's really inspiring - The ramification of the business-as-usual way in which people reproduce and the impact that it has on communities, especially women burdened with that as a primary role, and how it is also part of their empowerment and emancipation when we can give them choices.

Dr. Ton van der Velden 05:21

Absolutely. It's a huge factor in how a woman's life plays out, how much control she has over her reproduction, the number of children she has and the timing that she has them in. It has a huge impact not only on her family life, but also on her career, on her working life on the amount of money that she can earn that she can then use to feed, house, clothe and educate the children. It is massive. And I find myself after 25 years til 2015, I think, living in Vietnam with three kids in school and they don't want to move, they're happy. They've lived their whole life here pretty much. And the Vietnamese family planning program is running on rails. It's a well-organized, well-executed government program. And there's not a lot of need for my services anymore. And I look around together with my partner, Ron, and we recognize that there's another sector of the population that really is vastly underserved, and that it's mainly the elderly, and particularly in home care, there is no organised home care part to the health sector. There are no companies, there are no nursing agencies. So we started a company to provide those services. 

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 06:29

So, from 2015 til now, what have been some of the ups and downs or the challenges that you've had to navigate?

Dr. Ton van der Velden 06:40

The biggest challenge, obviously, is that it's not just starting a home nursing care agency, it's starting a whole new business sector. And it's a business sector that nobody is particularly familiar with, not in the regulatory agencies. So it took us almost two years before we figured out what the licenses were under which we could provide the service. The rest of the medical sector, the hospitals don't know it, the people in hospitals were not familiar with referring patients to home care agencies, when they need more care after discharging the patient. Families are not familiar with the concept. And so they don't know who to call when they have somebody who needs care at home. And there are many, many people who need this sort of service, but the demand is still quite small, because people are not familiar with it. I think that's the biggest barrier, if you will.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 07:23

You've correctly pointed out you're creating a whole new industry, which was not there before. And as the early entrants to the market, you've got to educate and create the need. And people who will come behind you, as your competitors, will have it much easier because you're paving the way by creating that whole model or the need from the consumers for this kind of services. 

Dr. Ton van der Velden 07:32

Yeah, that's true. Well, we're creating it in Vietnam. But of course, there are many countries around the world that already have thriving home nursing care sectors. So, it's not something we're inventing. Yes. It's just something we're trying port over into a country that doesn't have it. That's right, we'd be happy to have some serious competitors. The amount of work that is available is enormous. And if there were more companies jumping into this and trying to educate the population, and also the rest of the medical sector, “This is available” and “It's an important service to lean on”. I think the rising tide of recognition would lift all the boats.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 08:23

That's true. Where are your clinics or facilities available right now in Vietnam?

Dr. Ton van der Velden  

Right now, we're in two largest cities in Vietnam, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 08:34

What's the aspiration in the next two to three years?

Dr. Ton van der Velden 

We'd certainly like to expand to a couple of other provinces with nodes. But also we'd like to expand within those two cities with some smaller nursing stations that are closer to the community where the staff can become familiar with the local community and the community leaders, and become a community asset, if you will. 

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 08:58

What you're talking about is not the traditional kind of nursing care whereby I would be in a hospital or a facility, but really, someone is actually coming to my home, that's taking care of me, depending on them. Dealing with it can be a 24-hour shift, it can be partial, maybe the night shift, or it can be just coming to attend to a wound or maybe doing some specific tests, depending on what my needs are. 

Dr. Ton van der Velden 

Yeah, that's exactly what we do. Good description, it ranges from 24 hour palliative care to people who are close to dying to dropping in once every month to check on somebody's blood pressure. 

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 09:33

I wish you had this service in Singapore.

Dr. Ton van der Velden 

In Singapore also, there are a number of people trying to start this up. It's not just the fact that population at large or the rest of the health care sector is not familiar with the model. It's also not easy to find nurses who are able to do it, since they're in countries like Singapore or Vietnam, where the model doesn't exist. The nurses are also not trained to do it. And so nurses graduates unfamiliar with this kind of work, 

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 10:05

That's right. But then when I look at my aging mother and the fact that I have full time work, sometimes having that professional or medical care at home makes it really comfortable for her, as well as myself and knowing that I can call on such services is, I think, very important, especially as countries, communities and societies confront aging.

Dr. Ton van der Velden 

I think that group that confronts aging in place is only growing. People are, on average getting older, are confronted with longer, chronic diseases, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, cancer. All that time that people are sick with those conditions, they really don't want to spend too much time in hospitals, hospitals are dangerous places, that's where really dangerous bacteria live. Taking care of these conditions can be done, with some caveats, at home quite well.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 11:02

I also love the fact that your business is serving the underserved, as you say. And it's really very noble. It's also part of the Sustainable Developmental Goals to be able to democratize and have health care be affordable and available to the mass market, or even the poorest segments of the market. Why did you think about that?

Dr. Ton van der Velden 11:16

I've spent most of my working life in non-profit companies, where as the Director of non-profits, you train yourself, if you will, to look around you and to try to see, “Well, what is a problem, within my competency, within my mandate that I recognise in society, and can we do something about that? Can I find a donor who's interested in that? Let's try to mount a program. Let's try to get other people interested in this. And let's try to make the world a little bit better place.” That's sort of your job as a Director of an NGO. And so that's a working habit that is by now fairly deeply ingrained.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 11:55

How do you deal with crisis? I say that crisis is a kind of setback that we encounter. We get to a turning point, and either we die or we can adapt and pivot to the next pathway. I'm sure you've had some setbacks that you've had to deal with. And what had you be successful in dealing with such setbacks. 

Dr. Ton van der Velden 12:14

That's a difficult question. I had a very charmed life, thank god, knock on wood. I mean, by and large, I'm happily married. I've got three healthy kids, I managed to have enough money to live on. I haven't had many personal crises. I mean, I've had a couple of moments of personal danger and things like that.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 12:33

But you're pointing to something interesting. Maybe it's a way you look at life that has you either be more future-orientated, or when something comes to you, you don't make a big deal about it and label it as a crisis. And you just move on. 

Dr. Ton van der Velden 

I think that's true. I'm the kind of person who goes, “Oh, this is the situation we're in, what is the best way to do that? What is a reasonable, equitable, effective way of getting out of this?” I am not easily upset anymore, by a flat tire or crises in business. I'm like, “Oh, okay. Could be worse. What are we going to do about it?” One of your questions was, “How would people describe you?” And I asked my wife, the first thing that she'd come up with was ‘unflappable’ and ‘calm’. I don't flap easily, for me when something happens, I think about, “Okay, what is my responsibility here? What can I do to mitigate this? Who are affected? How can I help?” It's not particularly good or bad. It's just is, maybe it would be better to be more engaged, but I'm not.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 13:35

Yeah, but it's perfect. Because when you don't make it a big deal, it's not that focus for you, then you can get about in life without having to be burdened by it. That's also a great perspective,

Dr. Ton van der Velden 

If there's nothing I can do about it, as a doctor, when your patients die, which they invariably do, you have to examine that and you have to think about, “Well, is there anything I could have done to take better care of these patients? Is there a better therapy? Could I have been a warmer doctor, more empathetic doctor? I think a better doctor could have done the operation differently?” And if you decide that, “No”, and you pretty much did what you could, then that's it, then you let it go. And so, it's the same with crisis. You do what you can and if you feel that you've done everything you can, you deal with the consequences.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 14:19

So beautifully said, I think people should not overthink crisis too, and make it a big deal. That's actually another alternative perspective.

Dr. Ton van der Velden  

I don't easily or quickly label something a crisis.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  

That's great advice, not to label something as a crisis.

Dr. Ton van der Velden   

Don't overthink it. Don't ruminate on it. Don't think too much about the negative consequences. Think about what you can do moving forward.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 14:43

Very good. It’s all framed by this perspective. Let's move on. Let's find this solution. Let's not label things, belabour it or make it any consequence. It’s down to earth, being practical about it and really focused on what you want to make happen.

Dr. Ton van der Velden  

Yeah, not to look too far into the future, not to think too much about what might have been. The flip side of that is also not to look at these huge, enormous goals in your life and try to reach them, more like, “Okay, so this is what I'm faced with today. This is what's right in front of me. Let's tackle that. And we'll see how we get through that first.”

Dr Ramesh Ramachandra 15:23

Can you share with you a little bit about your view about spirituality and where you are on your spiritual journey?

Dr. Ton vans de Velden

I define myself as a secular humanist. It's part of my belief system, we shouldn't be causing unnecessary pain or harm or suffering. Where we can, we should try to ease or relieve that pain or suffering. That is part of my value system.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 

Thank you for your definition of what spirituality is to you. It's very congruent with what you've been doing over the years in the different activities that you've done. 

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 15:58

Do you have advice for young people who are looking for their place in the world, either in management and leadership or in business, what would be the key things that they could do?

Dr. Ton van der Velden 

I don't know if you're familiar with the movie Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. It's a late 80s comedy movie, and the key phrase in that movie is ‘Be excellent to each other’. That phrase has always stuck by me. And I think that's probably not bad advice. As I said, I'm a secular humanist. And so that means, for me, as a human being, we all have inherent value. And our value doesn't come from how productive we are, or how thoughtful or how kind we are to each other. We have value simply because we are humans. The basis underlying what we know as human rights that comes from the recognition that humans have value and importance. So, from that flows of responsibility for yourself, and for each other. You have the responsibilities facing humanity, and the ethical consequences of your own decisions. I think of that as consequential ethics, I don't judge things being ethical or not other than what their consequences are. And so that means you don't cause pain or harm. And it is upon you to ease or relieve the pain and suffering of others, and work to increase health and happiness and wellbeing in our communities. Fight for justice, be caring, I find that if you do that, and I encapsulate that by saying, “Be excellent to each other”. And I find if it tried to keep that stance, and then on a day-to-day basis, I think about, “What roles do I have in my life?”

Dr. Ton van der Velden 17:35

So, I'm a company director, sure. I'm a husband? Absolutely. I'm a father, I'm a friend. And for all of those roles, I look at what I think my stances in life are, what sort of a husband do I want to be? What sort of work? Do I want to be? What sort of a company do I want to lead? And what can I do this week to move that just a little bit. Figure out what your values are, and what roles you have in life, and then how you can further those values in each of those roles on a day-by-day basis. Don't worry too much about the far future, but look at the things that are right in front of you. What can I do this week that is congruent with my values, that helps me to become a better whatever it is, you are? 

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 18:11

Wow, you've decoded it quite simply figure out what your values are.

Dr. Ton van der Velden  

Figure out what your values are. What is important for you? What is it that you find worth fighting, for working on, arguing in favor of? And then combine that with, “Who are you in your life?” What roles do you have, husband or father or friend or musician, whatever it is - Figure out how you can apply those values in those roles for the next week in the short term. 

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 18:38  

Wow, so let me summarize, that is - Figure out what values you have, what's important to you. What are the roles that you're playing right now in life? Whether it's as a father, sister, company director, and then what is it that you have in front of you? You don't have to overthink about the future. The opportunity is right here, in front.

Dr. Ton van der Velden  

Right. What is it that you can do in the coming week? To be a better father. 

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  

Thank you very much.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 19:07

Do you think people can live a simple life?

Dr. Ton van der Velden 

It depends on your definition of a simple life, I think leading a simple life, in terms of, “I'm buying a plot of land, starting a vegetable garden and a bunch of chickens, and I'm no longer engaging”, I think, “Yes, you can.” I don't think it's particularly ethical. So in that sense, “Yes”, you can live a simple life, but I don't think I would want that, at least not for the next 20 years or so, maybe when I'm in my 80s. I think you can live a thoughtful life, what Socrates called “an examined life”. Look at who you are, what are the root causes of your behaviors? What are the patterns and the consequences of my life? And how do I improve those? So, a simple life, simple in the sense of economically simple, I think it's almost impossible nowadays, simple in the sense of isolating, I think wouldn't be ethical. I think we all have a responsibility to engage, to be part of a community. 

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 19:59

I love the fact about being part of a community is our duty.

Dr. Ton van der Velden  

As human beings, we've evolved within communities and so much of our psychology needs that human connection. I think you would be doing yourself a disfavor if you're not part of a community. That's the one side and the other side, you have the responsibility to reach out, to be supportive and empathetic and help improve your own community.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 20:25

You’ve talked about what I described as ‘reciprocal altruism’. And I found that in family businesses, that's actually one of their core strengths when they are thriving, which is that they are able to set aside their individual differences and their needs, to do for that common good for all. But then it gets lost over time as well. This whole notion of reciprocal altruism is somewhat missing by and large in our society these days. I would like to see a resurgence of that kind of connection, as well as a collective focus. And this is what I'm passionate about, our consulting work is geared around it, in getting companies to embrace this notion of what they can do to work as a collective versus individual.

Dr. Ton van der Velden 21:11

There's been an interesting body of research built up over the last, let's say, 15 or 20 years, about happiness, about what makes you happy. This is solid, sociological, psychological research. One of the main findings is that those who put their life's work in service of something bigger than themselves turn out to be happier than others. By and large, you mentioned the Sustainable Development Goals. People who say, “Well, I'm going to do something about poverty worldwide”. And it doesn't matter if you do it as a doctor or as an engineer, or if you’re working in rice cultivation. It doesn't matter what role you have, if you have a sense that what you're doing is contributing to a bigger goal, those are the people who tend to be happier. That's simply a sense, because we have evolved to live in communities, if you feel that you're an active part of this community, improving, supporting and strengthening our community. That gives us a sense of wellbeing. Altruism isn't even the word I'm looking for. There's a selfish aspect to it, and it's a good aspect.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 22:11

It is for our own benefit. 

Dr. Ton van der Velden 

Yeah, it definitely is. People are altruistic, because it makes you happy.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 22:20

That is true. If you had to use three words to describe “Thriving”, what would be those three words?

Dr. Ton van der Velden 

Thriving? Well, I would say people, by and large thrive when they're an important or essential part of a warm community. And that's an important thing for me. And then be honest with yourself about what your values are, try to formulate them and try to live your life accordingly. I think if you do that as part of the community, then you're a long way on that road to thriving.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  

Wow, that's very good. 

What is sustainability for you? What do you observe about the world today in its movement towards sustainability?

Dr. Ton van der Velden 22:59

I would answer that, like most people nowadays would answer - We're using our natural resources in a considered manner, in such a way that we're not running them out for future generations. As a father and I believe strongly in that. But at the same time, it's very frustrating that so little of our current societies are sustainable.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  

That's right. In our work, we take on the definition that sustainability is the ongoing thriving of a living system. It starts off with each and every one of us as individuals, the kind of mindset that we have around ourselves as a system and how we interact with the community at large.

Dr. Ton van der Velden  

Right, this goes back to the responsibility towards the community that we talked about. We have a responsibility, I think all of us, particularly those of us who live in the Western world, consume more than our fair share. We have a responsibility towards the larger community in the world to do that in a responsible and sustainable way.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 24:00

Right, and how do you see your health care startup contributing towards this whole aspect of sustainability?

Dr. Ton van der Velden  

We're not really in the business of trying to mitigate global warming or sustainable resources. It's a different field, if you will, we'll try to be cautious of conspicious consumption and things like that.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  

There are 17 Sustainable Development Goals and some of them talk about equality and human rights. So when you're serving the communities who don't have access to equal medical care, or something from that perspective, then it becomes very much consistent with that whole sustainability focus, but from a different aspect. 

Dr. Ton van der Velden 24:47  

That's right, if you're looking at it with a broader perspective of what sustainability means, and yes, I think we certainly fit in. That notion of health care for all definitely reverberate within me and many of the people that I work with, especially because so many people that you talk to here in Vietnam, about this business, they say, “Oh, I really needed that for my father. Well, I really needed that for my mother.” The number of people who need this kind of service, this kind of care, is really significant, and I think it's a massively underserved group of people. And that sense, we're trying to contribute to sustainable development, if you will.

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra 25:26

That's right. I've appreciated our conversation. You've given me food for thought, Ton, I want to thank you very much. I hope you've enjoyed our conversation too.

Dr. Ton van der Velden  

I have! One thing that you should do as a secular humanist is always to examine ideologies and ideas and thrash them about to see if they remain standing. So to look at my own life and see if it holds up in that sense, is always a useful thing. Thank you for the opportunity. 

Dr. Ramesh Ramachandra  

Thank you.

Ho Lai Yun 25:52

Thank you for listening to Ton’s story. When he shares glimpses into his way of thinking and how he lives his life with purpose, he's offering us a dose of reality, tinged with hope, based on altruism and service. This a timely reminder of the inherent value and potential of every human being.

If you're interested to learn more about the entrepreneurial mindset, Check out Dr. Ramesh's book "The Big Jump into Entrepreneurship 2.0", simply click on the Amazon link provided in the podcast description. 

In addition, Dr. Ramesh will be launching her new book on Crisis Ready Mindset in the first half of this year. Make sure you follow Dr. Ramesh on LinkedIn so that you’ll get her new book alert!

Next up, we move over to Bangkok in Thailand to hear from Dr. Nisha Kohli, who is ESG, sustainability ecosystem focused.

Bio
Dr. Ton van der Velden
Founder & Director,  Viet UC home nursing care companies

Ton was born in Vlaardingen, Holland in 1961.  He earned a BA in Psychology from Tilburg University, an MD from Erasmus University in Rotterdam and an MPH from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore. 

He has over 30 years of experience in working on sexual and reproductive health system strengthening in Asia, including Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal, Indonesia, and Kyrgyzstan. He started consulting in Vietnam in 1999 and moved there full time in 2006. In Vietnam he was the country director of Pathfinder Int. and of MCNV. In 2015 he and an Australian friend recognised that Vietnam had no organised home nursing care sector and they launched a company to kickstart home nursing care in the country. 

Ton is now a Founder and the Director of two home nursing care agencies in Vietnam. The Viet Uc nursing agencies provide home nursing care for middle class and poor families. They focus on palliative care, chronic wound care, and stroke care but can provide all nursing care at home. 

Ton is married to the wonderful Sarah and they have 3 kids. The family lives in Hanoi.