A small greeting card, a great culture
Ten years of working at University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh City is a span long enough for me to witness the hospital's many changes—from its facilities, operational scale, and professional quality to its robust strides in management and patient care. But perhaps what strikes a long-standing staff member most deeply is not just the development visible in numbers, spacious buildings, or professional achievements, but rather the organizational culture—the way a workplace treats its people.
As the 2026 Mid-Autumn Festival arrives once again, receiving the hospital's gift alongside a congratulatory card from the Director evoked a truly special emotion. Mid-Autumn mooncakes are traditionally a familiar gift every August. Yet what made this gift memorable lay in a seemingly minuscule detail: the card was personalized, bearing the specific name of each UMC member.
On the card I received were my name, my department, and wishes for health, peace, and happiness. This was no longer a generic greeting sent out en masse to thousands of employees. When each person's name is respectfully placed into the wishes of the hospital's leader, the recipient feels seen, recognized, and regarded as a true member of the UMC big family.
A name on a card may only be a few words, but behind those few words lies profound respect for an individual.
After ten years of work, I have come to understand all the more that what keeps an employee attached to an organization for the long term is not merely the job. It is also the sense of belonging. In a large hospital with numerous departments, rooms, centers, and units, operating daily at a fast pace and under high pressure, workers can easily become mere cogs in a massive system. For this reason, seemingly small gestures of care carry immense meaning.
I was particularly impressed by the lines in the Director's letter regarding "the dedication, sense of responsibility, and enduring contributions of esteemed UMC members," as well as the aspiration to build a hospital that grows ever stronger and becomes "an ideal place with family sharing, a steadfast anchor for every UMC member to work with peace of mind." Reading those words after a decade of service, I felt this was much more than a Mid-Autumn greeting. It hints at a deeply humanistic management philosophy: to care well for patients, an organization must first know how to cherish and care for the people who day and night care for those patients.
A hospital is a most unique environment. Behind the brightly lit corridors lie extended shifts, tense medical consultations, and decisions that sometimes must be made in fractions of a second. Not only the team of doctors, but every nurse, technician, pharmacist, specialist, and worker in supporting roles contributes to the overall operation. Some contributions are visibly apparent before patients; others are quiet efforts behind the scenes that few ever witness.
Therefore, a Mid-Autumn gift accompanied by personalized wishes sent to each individual carries a significance far surpassing material value. It transmits a simple message: The hospital remembers you. The hospital values your presence and your contributions.
Organizational culture sometimes does not lie in grand slogans. It is formed from very small things repeated sincerely: a word of inquiry, timely recognition, a holiday gift, a card bearing the recipient's name, or sharing when a colleague faces hardship. These things accumulate over time and create an intangible asset that money can hardly buy: trust and a sense of belonging.
Ten years at UMC, for me, has elevated the hospital beyond the meaning of a workplace address. This is where I have spent a significant portion of my youth and career journey; where there are colleagues, teachers, older brothers and sisters, and friends; where there are successful days but certainly no shortage of stressful, exhausting ones. These very experiences make the word "home" much more than a mere figure of speech.
A worthwhile workplace is not one devoid of pressure. The larger a hospital, the higher the professional demands and responsibilities, making pressure difficult to avoid. A worthwhile workplace is one where, amidst that pressure, people still feel respected, recognized, supported, and given the opportunity to grow together. And a place worth living within one's professional life is precisely where every morning we have a reason to come, and every evening returning home we can see that our work holds meaning.
I believe this is also the profound value of the UMC culture that many generations have cultivated and today's generation continues to uphold.
The Mid-Autumn Festival will pass. The box of cakes will eventually be opened and shared with family, colleagues, and loved ones. But the card bearing one's name will likely be kept by many for a much longer time. Because sometimes, what makes us remember a gift is not how valuable it is, but the feeling that we were thought of when that gift was prepared.
After a decade of companionship, I cherish that all the more.
And I believe that on the journey of future development, University Medical Center Ho Chi Minh City will not only continue to be a hospital with strong expertise, modern management, and increasingly high service quality, but will also preserve the beautiful element that has built its strength: centering on people, weaving kindness as the connecting thread, and viewing every UMC member as part of our common home.
After all, a great organization is built upon strategy, expertise, and systems; but an organization that inspires people to stay for ten, twenty years, and even longer, must be built with genuine human warmth.
For me, UMC is a place to practice my profession, to grow, to dedicate myself—and also a home worth living in, worth working for, and proudly belonging to.
Master Nguyễn Quang Duy - Head of the Legal and Internal Audit Unit, Personnel Organization Department
UMC, September 14, 2026 (August 4th of the Lunar Calendar)
