St. Mary’s Hospital is the last stop in the lives of many people in Taitung. Though the doctors tell them that the hospital does not have enough equipment and that they will help them to transfer to bigger hospitals, they say they’d rather die at St. Mary’s Hospital. The hospital is like their second home. The following two stories happened in 2003. At that time, St. Mary’s Hospital did not have a hospice care center.
Story One
Sam was in his forties. He was in a very poor condition. His wife was a drunkard. His daughter gave birth out of wedlock and he had to support his grandchild. He himself was a fierce individual, getting in trouble all the time, and caused his mother lots of problems. His mother complained that God is unfair to her to have such a malevolent son to trouble her.
Not long ago, it was discovered that he had terminal kidney cancer. He went everywhere looking for a cure-all. But he did not turn to doctors for help. He was looking forward to a miracle. He went from bad to worse. One day, his mother saw her neighbor going out with something. Her mother asked the neighbor where she was going. Her neighbor replied she would go to St. Mary’s Hospital to have her prescription filled. In her thoughtfulness and generosity, she would present the doctor with some boiled dumplings. She praised Doctor Shi in the hospital to the highest heavens, saying Doctor Shi treats every patient extremely well and with plenty of kindness.
After that, Sam mother went St. Mary’s Hospital to have his prescription filled too. When Doctor Shi read the medical chart of his serious disease, he showed his deep concern for her son. What is more, Doctor Shi went to their home to offer her son Hospice Care. But Sam did not cooperate well. The nurses felt depressed and discouraged. They felt they did not do their job well.
As Sam was dying, the superintendent went to their home to keep him company. Unbelievably Sam asked superintendent Sr. Rosalie Jeng “Why doesn’t Taitung have any hospice care center?” The word “hospice” came out of the mouth of this trouble maker. The superintendent of the hospital felt rather sad about this.
Story Two
In the summer of the same year, Father Xi died in St. Mary’s Hospital. His body was to be sent to the mortuary. To our surprise, the mortuary sent a small truck without any canopy. The hospital staff insisted that the driver could not take his body away. After a serious argument, the driver left angrily.
Oh, God! The living should be respected. The dead should be respected too. The people in the remote districts are human as well. A problem person and a Father reminded us of the fact that St. Mary’s Hospital needs a hospice care center. People in Taitung should promote the idea of hospice care.
In the end, St. Mary’s Hospital made an important decision. In 2004, the hospital set up the first hospice care center “Mercy Home” in Taitung for those poor people regardless of the economic situation.(2007.06.05)
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