Tzu Chi Mobile Medical Unit Serves Typhoon
Victims
Reported by Li Rui-hua and Hu Ya-ling
(Translated by Tina Tuan, Northern California)
The Tzu Chi Medical
Center sent out a mobile medical unit with a team of seven people,
including doctors, nurses and pharmacists, from the Tzu Chi
hospital in Yuli. They treated sixty-eight survivors in remote
villages in Hualien County, including Shuiyuan, Chienching and
Taipaliang. The mobile medical unit will continue to serve typhoon
victims on August 5.
Typhoon Toraji severely damaged the townships
of Fenglin and Kuangfu in Hualien County, and several mountainside
villages have been declared major disaster areas. On July 31,
the Tzu Chi Medical Center and Tzu Chi Hospital at Yuli set
up an emergency medical station in the village of Tahsing. For
victims in mountain villages who needed immediate medical attention,
Tzu Chi sent a mobile medical unit to the regions of Wanjung,
Fenglin and Kuangfu.
Wang Wen-chien, business manager of the Tzu
Chi Hospital at Yu Li, remarked that people in remote areas
on the east coast were not getting proper medical care, since
there was only one medical station, located at the Tahsin Elementary
School. Many victims, as well as members of the rescue team,
were sunburned after several days of exposure to the fierce
sun. Therefore, the Tzu Chi mobile medical unit also carried
an ample supply of sunscreen lotion for people in the disaster
areas.
Two mobile medical units with doctors, nurses
and pharmacists from the Yuli hospital provided emergency medical
care at various locations. The first stop was the community
center in Chienching Village. The station was set up at ten
in the morning, and in merely two hours fifty-two patients were
treated.
Dr. Lin Ta-chung said that many patients had
post-traumatic symptoms, including insomnia, backaches, bruises,
skin irritations, flu and, most commonly, diarrhea. Dr. Lin
reminded the public that dead animals would contaminate water
supplies, so people should be very careful about drinking water.
Also, insect bites would cause skin irritations and transmit
diseases, so people outdoors should avoid being bitten by insects.
The Tzu Chi mobile medical units not only
set up medical stations at a number of locations, but also entered
remote villages to pick up elderly patients. Due to the overwhelming
number of patients, the team almost ran out of medical supplies.
But fortunately, the Tzu Chi Medical Center sent an additional
supply at two that afternoon.
In the afternoon, medical stations were set
up at Kuangfu and Taipa. Due to difficulties with transportation
and communications, many elderly people who lived alone could
not get to the stations. Again, the mobile units picked up the
elderly at their homes and took them to the medical stations.
There was one good deed especially worth mentioning:
Dr. Lin Ta-chung had to cancel his vacation plans and sacrifice
his time with his pregnant wife in order to join the mobile
medical team. After serving an all-night shift at the hospital,
he immediately boarded the mobile unit and treated fifty patients
in Chienching. Under the scorching sun, he smiled and said that
he could serve a hundred more patients.
