Great Love Spreads to Hundreds of Residents
At Tzu Chi Free Medical Clinic In Garden Grove, USA
Reported by Wang Shan-yen and Debra Tseng
(Translated by Grace Chen, Southern California)
On August 12 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., the
Tzu Chi Free Clinic and the Tzu Chi Orange County office brought
the spirit of Great Love to the city of Garden Grove. They
provided free medical service on a street that used to overflow
with call girls and drug dealers.
Hundreds of city residents in need of services
and supplies such as free medical service, dental check-up,
medicine, cleaning supplies and haircuts, attended this free
clinic. On that day, Garden Grove city mayor Bruce Broadwater
and city council members Meuk Rosen and Van Tran were also
present at the free clinic to support Tzu Chi's charity work.
The free clinic was held at the Pruana-Clinton
community, located south of Westminster Boulevard in Garden
Grove City. This community consists of approximately eight
hundred families living in ninety rental apartment buildings.
The community's real estate properties are managed by a real
estate investment and management company called Golden Remco,
Inc., which is owned by Kuo Su-sheng. Kuo revealed that in
the eighties, when the company acquired the real estate properties
there, the community was filled with garbage, drug dealers
and call girls.
Through the efforts of Kuo and others, the
community has become a nice area filled with green trees,
beautiful flowers, and moms with their children. However,
the average income of the families in the community is still
below federal and state poverty levels. After the Tzu Chi
Foundation learned of the situation, they held a free clinic
on February 25. On that day, approximately six hundred residents
of different ethnic backgrounds received help from Tzu Chi.
Through that free clinic, Tzu Chi discovered
some people who needed follow-up medical care. Thus the foundation
decided to hold a second free clinic in Garden Grove on August
12.
Besides providing locations for the medical
clinic, Golden Remco and other companies also promoted the
clinic to all the residents in the community.
Residents of the Pruana-Clinton community
are ethnically diversified. There are Latinos, Vietnamese,
Caucasians, and people from the Middle East. Therefore, for
the first time, Tzu Chi organized approximately two hundred
Vietnamese, Chinese, Latino, Caucasian, and African-American
volunteers and medical personnel to help out at the free clinic.
A Vietnamese-Chinese lady, Huang Kuan-ying, even recruited
several friends and relatives as translators. She was deeply
touched by the Tzu Chi spirit of Great Love in helping out
the poor.
George Gonzalez, a 21-year-old Latino volunteer,
pointed out that several years ago there were still drug dealers
selling drugs on the street and gang fights in the community.
However, nowadays, the area is fairly safe. Kids can even
be seen camping outdoors during the summer. He said that a
lot of families are new immigrants; some families do not even
have medical insurance. Therefore, Tzu Chi volunteers give
up their leisure time during the weekends in order to provide
medical assistance for the families there. Gonzalez said that
if there is another activity like this, he will be more than
happy to volunteer as a translator for the Latinos.
Many volunteers brought their spouses or
entire families to help out at the free clinic. Most parents
want to see their children participate in these volunteer
events, so that the children can learn to appreciate how fortunate
and lucky they are compared to others. Parents hope that their
children can understand and cherish their good fortune, learn
to give to others, and realize that people should try to help
each other in any way they can.
Dr. Shen Ming-lung from Laguna Hills, with
the assistance of his wife Lin Mei-ching, helped treat patients
at the free clinic. He said that most parents had colds or
skin problems. However, they also discovered a patient with
a blood sugar level of over three hundred, and he never knew
he was diabetic!
Dr. Lin Yi-yi and her husband, internal
medicine doctor Tu Chia-feng, are from San Diego. She cleaned
teeth for the residents there, and discovered that many of
them have not had their teeth cleaned in many years!
Dentistry was the most requested service that day. Due to
the fact that some dental problems require X-rays and other
in-depth tests, the free clinic even sent out their special
van, laden with state-of-the-art equipment.
On that day, Tzu Chi also arranged for women over forty to
receive breast examinations, Pap smears, and HIV testing.
There was also promotion for bone marrow donations, entitled
"Save a Life at No Harm to Yourself."
Aside from that, Tzu Chi also presented
each family with a set of supplies including a toothbrush,
toothpaste, laundry detergent, soap, shampoo, cleaning cloth,
and dish detergent. Other than receiving both Western and
Chinese medical care, the residents also fully utilized the
free haircut service, keeping the four barbers busy from day
until night.
