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The first day of 2005, everyone woke up fairly early,
as usual. Team members greeted each other during breakfast.
After all, it was New Year's Day. However, the usual
"Happy New Year" was rather difficult to say
this time. After witnessing the disastrous impact of
the tsunami and thinking about the suffering victims,
it was not so easy to be happy. The best we could do
was to wish each other a safe and healthy year. I wished
that in the upcoming year, there would be no more disasters
and everyone would be safe and contented.
New Year's morning at free clinic
Before we started the day's free medical treatment,
Brother Stephen Huang arranged for the medical volunteering
staffers to visit the most impacted local areas. This
allowed the volunteers to understand the severity of
the damage and to step into the victims' shoes. At the
sites we visited, we saw evidence of the tsunami's awful
power: huge trees uprooted, trucks and cars turned into
scrap metal, and an entire telecommunication building
torn to pieces. It was not difficult to imagine the
terror the people there must have felt and the magnitude
of the disaster they experienced.
The medical station's free medical clinic opened on
time at 9 a.m. Perhaps the news of the medical services
we had provided the day before had spread; there were
already people lined up outside before the free clinic
opened. Regardless of their specialty and departments,
all the doctors began to attentively take care of each
and every patient. From time to time, they would hold
a patient's hand, pat him or her on the shoulder, or
even give the patient a hug to let them rekindle the
feeling of a caring family once again.
Good doctor is living Buddha
One of the patients was a dharma master who had a severe
infection under his nails. Both of his big toes had
serious ulcerous sores and were covered with pus. They
hurt so much he was having a hard time walking. Dr.
Chang Chia-ning quickly decided that the best remedy
was to remove the nails on the big toes. Before the
operation, a doctor first had to inject the anesthetic.
The injection process must have been very painful. The
dharma master took in the pain bravely, but it saddened
me to see the painful and twisted expression he had
on his face. After the anesthetic took effect, Dr. Chang
used a medical clamp to begin to pull the infected nail.
Dr. Chang had to cut, dig and drill around the muscles.
Then she pulled the nail out all at once.
The first toenail was successfully removed. Perhaps
the process of injecting anesthetic was too painful.
The dharma master insisted on not pulling out the left
toenail. Dr. Chang and Dr. Lee Chun-yi attempted to
persuade him, telling him that if the nail was not removed,
it may cause more pain in the future, but they were
not successful. The dharma master was very certain of
his decision. The doctors could only help him to protect
the wound and provide medication and supplies for changing
the wrapping around his wound. While watching the dharma
master depart, I feel a bit disappointed. I was still
concerned because the other infected toenail had not
been removed. What would he do if the infection worsened
in the coming days?
An old man was a fortunate survivor of the tsunami.
His legs were severely wounded with large cuts needing
stitches. Stitching and healing the wounds required
the old man to lie down. With only chairs in the clinic,
Dr. Chang and Dr. Lee used what resources they had by
putting three chairs together, thus allowing the old
man to lie down on this makeshift "bed."
Dr. Chang and Dr. Lee had developed great synergy from
working together for many years. One performs surgery,
while the other administers the anesthetic. When necessary,
they swap responsibilities to help each other out. The
two make a great team. Because they were cutting and
stitching the whole day without stopping, the number
of operations they performed was in the double digits.
Their goal was to heal the physical wounds of the tsunami
victims to further help stitch their lives back together.
Doctors and nurses guard lives
Dr. Yang Chih-kuo's clinic specializes in internal
medicine. Soft-spoken and kind-hearted Dr. Yang has
a great compassionate heart and always greets all people
with a smile on his face. He also possesses the highest
respect for his patients. A young girl came to Dr. Yang
for treatment. As he prepared to lift up her shirt to
use a stethoscope to examine her heartbeat from her
back, he requested that the door be closed. Still, Dr.
Yang sensed that, even in this increased privacy, the
young girl was embarrassed to show her bare back. Dr.
Yang quickly said, "No problem! We can do this
with the shirt on." Dr. Yang went out of his way
to alleviate this young girl's embarrassment.
Soon after this, an elderly patient with prostate
cancer showed up. He was having difficulty urinating
and had irregular bowl movements. Before performing
his examination, Dr. Yang requested that the camera
crews from the media leave the clinic. Dr. Yang's extra
consideration and attention to his patients'feelings
is especially admirable.
The pharmacy, although it is not in a very large space,
is probably the busiest section of the free clinic.
Dr. Kuo Chien-chung, an emergency room physician who
has numerous disaster relief experiences, is determined
and warm-hearted. Every day, he works from dawn to late
at night. His clothing is constantly drenched with sweat
and dried by the wind. The salt from his sweat crystallizes
and leaves white streaks on his"blue sky and white
cloud" volunteer uniform. Even in the middle of
this overwhelming bustling, Dr. Kuo's humor often brings
laughter to the pharmacy.
Nurse Da Bing (Mr. Tu Bing-hsu) has also helped create
a positive mood. As a male nurse, Da Bing often takes
all the physically demanding tasks. Da Bing frequently
shares many jokes with the staff. The jokes and laughter
allow everyone to feel more at ease in this high-stress
environment. Da Bing is also very attentive and detailed
in all his work. He is patient and will work as long
as it takes to help the patients understand their prescriptions.
Healing suffering through compassion and love
As the work in the free clinic continued towards evening
on New Year's Day, more and more survival cases from
the tsunami began to surface. There was a 35-year-old
woman who had lost seven family members. She and her
husband were the only survivors. There was also a traumatized
44-year-old man. When he showed up at the clinic, he
only complained about his insomnia at night and fatigue
in the daytime, and wounds all over his body. Later,
we discovered that the tsunami had taken away eight
family members from him, including his wife and son.
With careful diagnosis, the doctor concluded that this
man suffered from no major health problems, but that
he badly needed moral support.
Besides providing medicine and surgical care, all of
us volunteers also hope to provide the needed guidance
and moral support to ease survivors on the road to physical
and emotional recovery. As the man waited for the sleeping
pills the doctor had prescribed, Brother Lin Chung-chih
approached him to try to understand his current situation.
Brother Lin gently held the patient's hand and shared
with him that to survive is a blessing, and that survivors
should appreciate life so the departed family members
can rest in peace.
Brother Lin further encouraged him to help us after
he was able to grieve. He explained how charitable giving
and caring could help to heal one's own sorrow. After
listening to to Brother Lin, the man said he would like
to become a Tzu Chi volunteer to serve his village.
The man asked Brother Lin,"Can a Muslim become
a Tzu Chi member?"Brother Lin replied that Tzu
Chi differentiates between neither religion nor ethnicity,
and that compassion is not limited by national borders.
Thus, there is no religious requirement for being a
volunteer. Brother Lin then used what symbolizes Muslim's
highest form of paying respect to wish him well. Finally,
a smile came to the man's face.
Many of the survivors are experiencing similar difficult
situations. The Tzu Chi volunteers have arranged to
visit many of the hardest-hit families during their
time in Sri Lanka. Aside from providing living essentials
and figuring out how to help, the volunteers also hope
that they can help these victims to make their lives
more meaningful after their experience with deep suffering.
Let us hope that the victims of this terrible disaster
can transform their love and grief for their families
into a desire to give love and care to others in need.
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