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Walking out of the Comfort Zone: Unlimited Potential and Possibilities
周佳霖/ Medical Examiner
During one of my night shift, I searched on a whim for “volunteer clinic” online to find that most of results were related to Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps (TRMPC). Clicking into their website, I found one volunteer clinic time slot aligned coincidently with my vacation days. After registering, however, I discovered that the meeting time clashed with my work shift, so I had to painfully rescind my registration.Although I was not able to attend, the idea of volunteering for TRMPC remained in my heart. After a long period of time, I finally had the opportunity to join the 338th Gaoping Mission. As I thought about the upcoming medical mission, I realized I had to leave behind all the advanced medical equipment I was accustomed to use everyday. Inside, I was left with a lingering question, “What can I do to make a difference when I’m away from a resource-rich environment?”On the night of departure, a time period I am very familiar with because of work, everyone in the car were amiable and friendly. While we were on the road, Sister En-En passionately shared her past experiences, giving everyone a deeper understanding of TRMPC..jpg)
During the mission trip, which lasted for three days and two nights, we visited a different village every morning, noon, and night. At each location, we had to delegate work and set up stations for registration, medical and dental consultations, pharmacy, medical tests, accompanied reading, etc. Everyone shared an eagerness to help unload and set up the facilities. As soon as people were done setting up their assigned stations, they would immediately move on to neighboring stations and ask if any help was needed.Under this work procedure, I witnessed an amazing cooperative team mentality among all the volunteers. What was more surprising, however, was that before the clinic was opened, the physicians would personally visit the pharmaceutical and medical examination stations to verify all the available medications and examinations, which was something I, who work in a hospital system, would never have imagined doing.Seeing the pharmacist’s mastery over all the pharmaceutical drugs and ability to offer alternative treatments and prescriptions in response to the physician's needs, I started to seriously reflect on how I could offer different examination processes to accommodate various circumstances in my own limited and electrically dependent workstation. At this moment I realized that although my four years of schooling were not completely wasted, the knowledge I had obtained from school was not enough in an impoverished and under-resourced area..jpg)
I still remember when I had just graduated, an older upperclassman had asked me why I had chosen to become a medical examiner. At that time, my reply was, “I wanted to help those who need help.” Those words that I had said soon became my source of motivation to continue to work in the hospital. However, under the busyness and exhaustion from work that had also seeped into my daily life, I found myself unable to determine if I had reached my initial dream to help those in need. Just when I was deep in thought, hoping that I would have the chance to help more people, TRMPC gave me this valuable opportunity.
In this short medical mission trip, I experienced a lot of shock and moments of self-reflection. Previously, I thought a medical examiner’s place was inseparable from the hospital, examination institution, blood donation center, or other related institutions, because a medical examiner could only do so much for people in clinic. However, through this medical mission, my opinions completely changed. Even without the newest innovations, equipments, and reagents, medical examiners still have potential to do a lot more such as transporting limited resources and fulfilling the most basic duty as a medical examiner: providing necessary examination results in clinic.
I am very grateful to TRMPC for having these medical missions, allowing me to become more familiar with rural medicine, to get to know all the amazing volunteers, and to have a future goal to strive towards.
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Youth Without Regret: Moved to Action
徐玉萍/Volunteer
Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps (TRMPC) is both a familiar yet foreign name: foreign because of a lack of understanding of how it functions, familiar because of its frequent portrayal on news and magazines as a great self-initiating service organization.A good friend of mine who had attended many of TRMPC’s medical missions strongly recommended me to join, believing that I would fit right in. Unable to quash the little seed of desire inside me to help others, I signed up for its medical missions.I’ve heard that it was quite difficult to sign up due to its large number of volunteers, but luckily I successively registered for a medical mission on the first try. When I first received the letter of acceptance, I was filled with joy and enthusiastically shared with my close friends and family that I was about to embark on a medical mission trip. To prepare myself, I endlessly chased after my good friend, who had attended previously, to ask for relevant information in case I carelessly miss anything.
At 2:45 A.M. we assembled at the front gate of National Taiwan University. Staying awake at this drowsy hour was a true test of endurance, energy, and willpower, but it could not extinguish the fire of excitement within me. When I arrived at the school gate, there was already a group of people, who were also eager to serve, waiting. And just like that, we departed!As I saw the storage truck lead the caravan of cars, my heart was deeply moved; it was still three in the morning, but we were already on the winding road to Gaoping. Unafraid of toil, everyone knew that there were people in the mountains waiting for our help.In three days and two nights, we visited six different tribal villages and a children’s home where we had our accompanied reading program. If it weren’t TRMPC, I would have never known about the prevalence of grandparents raising grandchildren in mountainous areas.
Although reading is not an important aspect of tribal life, storytelling is like the children’s second language. For children, books are the most direct and simplest way to learn. Using picture books to tell stories, children can connect with main characters who share similar backgrounds as them, allowing stories to strongly resonate with the children.
As we slowly opened the children’s hearts through reading with them, the children obtained both knowledge and happiness. They even excitedly shared their own invented stories for us to listen. I was beaming with joy, because through my small contribution, the children fell in love with reading. After every reading session, the children would send us off saying, “Bye sister. Thank you for reading with us. We will miss you.” Just these few words were enough to touch all of our hearts, making this whole trip all the more worth it.
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As written on the homepage of TRMPC’s website, “If you only play the role of a moved bystander, you will find that in the end there will be fewer and fewer things that can move you.” Indeed, I believe that we possess the power to touch the lives of ourselves and others. To not leave any regrets in my youth, I was moved to action.
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Volunteering Opened My Heart吳芳宜/護理師.jpg)
Volunteering Opened My Heart
吳芳宜/Nurse
Many years ago on a particular day, I was convicted to join a volunteer medical mission. After searching online for volunteer clinics, I discovered the existence of Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps (TRMPC). But since then, either because the sign up slots were full or I had to cancel due to some emergency, I was never able to attend. All my colleagues laughed at me, saying that I carried a curse, and jokingly asked me to stop registering lest I cause more harm to innocent people.But I never gave up. Finally, I received a phone call one day, because one of the registered nurses could no longer attend, and I, who previously did not make the list, was selected as a substitute. I was grateful for nurse who had to cancel her registration, giving me the opportunity to join the May Kaohsiung Pingtung medical mission.Although I’ve seen introductions of volunteer clinics online, actually joining one was still a remarkable experience. Just one mobile dentistry truck was enough for oral health treatments; just a couple equipment were enough for a multitude of examinations; just a few crates held enough pharmaceutical drugs for the trip; just a small group of people was enough to set up a small functioning clinic. Without personally participating on this medical mission trip, I would have never thought a small team could accomplish so much; indeed it was an eye-opening experience.
Initially, I was not too confident in my abilities as a nurse, and I was afraid that upon arriving I would not contribute much. But as I soon found out, I had worried unnecessarily. At the clinic site, diligence was the most important, not abilities. As for professional skills, everyone helped one another to learn and grow. Often there was a group of people discussing about a patient’s medical condition, sharing past experiences and clinical cases, or exchanging knowledge and expertise. I also discovered that if anyone ever needed help, everyone else was eager to fill in the spot to assist.This cooperative atmosphere is quite touching; with such a supportive team, I did not have to worry and could just focus on finishing my assigned task. Here, I could see everyone’s selfless, soft heart and their dedication to make the clinic successful. Our priority was to provide the best health care services for patients; everything else was secondary.Other than providing medical care, what made me the happiest was interacting with the adorable aboriginal elders and children. In these three days, we visited many villages, and I’ve discovered that the villagers’ unity was ironclad. Any activity involved the whole village, even if there weren’t that many people.The people we met at the tribal village were all adorable and pure, elders and children alike. You could converse with them naturally, and vividly feel their passion and warmth. These interactions were drastically different from the coldness and isolation in the busy city. Under this welcoming atmosphere, I gradually became more relaxed and opened up more to the villagers. Although many people would think that we were really great and sacrificial for traveling to remote areas to help, but what really happened was that we learned and grew an unimaginable amount from them.
Throughout the whole medical mission, one task stood out for me, which was distributing clothes and resources during every clinic session. While the clothes were not new nor resources valuable, every time I brought them to the elderly's’ homes for the elderlies to pick, many of the elders were afraid too much in case someone else needed them more. How they valued the clothes and resources shocked me, making me realize just how little we appreciate what we have. Whenever free stuff is available, we would jump into a frenzy state and try to grab as much as possible, regardless of whether we need it. Seeing their selflessness, we were really ashamed of our wastefulness and greed.
Thus concludes my very first medical mission. Truth be told, the trip was physically taxing, and I had to sleep quite a lot to recuperate. All in all, I must thank those who took care of us, volunteers, everyday including the driving crew, the cooking crew, and all other volunteers. Compared to them, my work seemed a lot easier: I did not have to wake up early in the morning to prepare breakfast, and I could take naps while on the road. Without out their hard work, we would not have been able to care for the patients. I am very thankful for them.
I’ll see all of you again in June.
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In Their Eyes, What is A Doctor Like?
江明修 / Medical Student
Gaoping medical mission was my first time participating in a volunteer clinic. I initially had many doubts and concerns, but by Friday midnight when we were on the road with Annie Liu, my perception of Taiwan Root Medical Peace Corps (TRMPC) and volunteering had completely changed. In three days, we visited six different tribal villages and a children’s home; each day was simply amazing.Annie was like an older sister who cared for us, and with whom we could easily converse. Because of her vibrant personality, all of us, including myself, the pharmacist Wei-Ting Wang, and the medical examiner Jia-Lin Zhou, were never bored for the whole car ride from Taipei to Pingtung. Our conversations brought us closer to one another, and by the last day we felt like old friends.
TRMPC is like one big family. To accomplish the shared goal of providing health care for those in need, everyone diligently worked together as a team, fully utilizing their professional skill set. Volunteering at the medical clinic allowed me to gain hands-on experience treating patients and learn what I could not have found by just reading textbooks. Under the tutelage of three physicians, I became more aware of my own incompetence and need to put more effort to fill in those gaps.Doctor Chen, especially, would often push me and another fifth-year medical student, Kevin, to come up with questions about the whole clinical process from diagnosing a patient's illness to prescribing appropriate drugs. He even asked us, newcomers, to brainstorm what was the significance of volunteer organizations like TRMPC.After discussing with Doctor Chen, I started to realize that the duty of newcomers is to contemplate and to question: with inquisitive and observant mindsets, we are to identify the shortcomings of the organization’s system and to act in attempt to mitigate those flaws.
During the medical mission, I visited other professionals including the pharmacist, medical examiner, and nurse, because I was curious about their profession and livelihood. I also wanted to know what they wanted to see in a physician. Luckily during the medical mission trip, I had the chance to just talk with all the other volunteers. Every profession has its respectful and honorable side: medical examiners are dexterous with their hands when drawing blood; pharmacists exercise a refined and precise management over all the pharmaceutical drugs’ placement and amount; nurses are talented in interacting with patients. Without their help, even the most talented and knowledgable doctor will be helpless and lost walking in circles.
I am very grateful for this medical mission, as it has allowed me to witness and understand what I would not have experienced in a hospital.
I like the TRMPC organizational model, because it is like a round table without any hierarchy, and everybody is respected and viewed as valuable no matter their position or profession. Outside of the health team members, the volunteer driving crew and cooking crew members were approachable and friendly. I’m also grateful for them for waking up early in the morning everyday to prepare all the meals and for giving the health team unwavering support.As a group of lovable people happily working together to better the lives of others, TRMPC is an incredible organization. I want to thank TRMPC for giving me, a noname medical student, an opportunity to grow exponentially.
