Dharma: 971101人間菩提英文版 15Years of Service for Tzu Chi USA's First Free Clinic Center

15Years of Service for Tzu Chi USA's First Free Clinic Center

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人間菩提--美國義診中心成立十五年

Today marks the 15^th anniversary of Tzu Chi USA's first free clinic center,

Fifteen years ago today, Tzu Chi USA's first free clinic center opened.

(in Los Angeles, California)

Because many aren't able to get medical care due to the language barrier, lack of health insurance or because they are illegal immigrants.

Tzu Chi therefore opened a free clinic center.

There have been many moving stories involving the Free Clinic Center.

Besides services provided at the Center, the personnel also go to the US-Mexico border to care for shanty communities mostly populated by people who want to

Cross the border into the U.S.

When they are sick, they have no one to turn to.

In their time of suffering, Tzu Chi people are there to provide medical care.

Besides holding free clinics, Tzu Chi USA has also built a school there.

Moreover, starting last year, many of the doctors at the free clinics are local doctors.

Now, over twenty local Mexican doctors participate.

Dr. De Leon is one of these doctors.

He's a very kind doctor.

At the first free clinic he took part in he was very moved.

So, after the free clinic, he 'adopted" four coin banks.

He said, one is for his own clinic, one is for his mother.

One is for his wife, and one is for his son.

He wanted all members of his family to each keep a coin bank.

Such was his commitment to continuing this practice of Tzu Chi's, which is part of

Tzu Chi's founding spirit and philosophy.

Last year, they also began promoting this actively.

So, we can see that this spirit of service and providing free medical care has already spread from the U.S. to Mexico.

It is truly moving to witness.

Meanwhile, in the U.S., Tzu Chi USA already has four clinic centers, and they also go out-of-state or abroad when needed.

For instance, when disasters happened in Central or South America, the personnel also went with the disaster relief team to give aid.

After the relief mission ended, they continued to evaluate whether to go back and hold a free clinic.

From footage they've sent back, we see that they are already making preparations for the Free Clinic Center's 15^th anniv. celebration.

They are setting up exhibitions and posters to let the walls tell stories.

So, everyone is busy with the preparations.

Look at the way Dr. Hsu took care of the people helping with the preparations and asked them to rest for a bit.

He even brought tea to each of them because everyone has been working so hard.

He is the head of the Free Clinic Center but you always see him being very humble.

He often kneels or squats down by his patients to tend to their wounds or to comfort them.

He truly lives up to the name of "great healer"

There are many touching stories about how our Free Clinic Center has helped people to recover.

For example, there are many stories about victims of Hurricane Katrina.

Among them is a man who owned a pizza store in New Orieans.

The hurricane destroyed his pizza store.

His wife and daughter also died in the disaster.

So, he and his son left New Orleans and went to Los Angeles to stay with a friend.

His friend set up the car garage for him & his son to live in.

Having lost everything and his loved ones for a time, he was not able to get past the tragedy.

But when he was ready to make a new start again, he started having health problems.

He was able to find a job working in a restaurant.

(but his health problems limited what he could do)

So, he went to a public hospital to try to get treatment.

He waited around 11 hours to see a doctor.

When it was finally his turn, the doctor told him that because his illness was not life threatening he wouldn't be able to get treatment.

He had waited for such a long time, but because he was uninsured.

He had no other choice.

After learning about what happened to him, a coworker felt sympathy for him and told him about our Free Clinic Center.

The doctors at our Free Clinic Center diagnosed him with hernia.

Since curing it requires surgery our doctors referred him to the hospital run by Dr. Matthew Lin.

(a Tzu Chi volunteer)

They said he could get his operation there.

After the surgery, Tzu Chi helped pay US$3,000 for the medical expenses.

That's more than 90 thousand Taiwan Dollars.

That's how much medical care costs in the U.S.

It is very expensive.

So, for those of us living in Taiwan we need to be thankful that we have national health insurance which also covers health examinations.

When one of our U.S. Tzu Chi volunteers went for

(a health examination in the U.S. ---)

While in Bolivia for a relief mission, he felt very unwell and experienced dizziness.

When he returned to the U.S. he went to get a health examination.

It cost him US$30,000.

After the test results came back, the report indicated that he was healthy.

Given such costly medical care, the port the uninsured, and disaster victims cannot afford medical care.

Many disasters have happened in the U.S. lately so there are many disaster victims in need of government aid.

Right now, our U.S. Tzu Chi volunteers are still carrying out relief efforts.

We're still helping the victims of Hurricane Ike.

So, in life, a lot of things can turn out very differently than what we imagined

There can be a big disparity between what we think and the way things really are.

That's why we must keep our feet on the ground.

We have to be grateful for the environment we are living in now.

We need peace in Taiwan.

(I hope) people can be harmonious and cherish our society and all that it provides.

The society cannot take more disorder.

I hope we will all think about the welfare of our future generation and our own welfare, and cherish our peace and safety.

We must all cherish the life we have now.

We really can't afford to have any chaos or disorder in our society.

Taiwan is very small.

But, a large country like the U.S. where many want to live is not necessarily a better place to live.

I'm grateful to Tzu Chi people in the U.S.---

Our doctors ,medical staff, and our Tzu Chi volunteers

(for running a free clinic center)

And taking care of the medical needs of more than 100,000 people.

Their services and their loving care have helped to relieve many people's illnesses.

I'm very grateful to them.

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義診中心十五載
醫療服務入邊境
救病紓困無國界
珍惜平安心和睦

美國義診中心今天慶祝成立15周年。在大家的印象中，美國是一個富強的國家，但是其實有很多語言不通的華人、非法的移民還有沒有醫療保險分擔龐大醫藥費的民眾，所以美國慈濟人在十五年前成立義診中心，每年幫助超過一萬名病患。證嚴上人在開示中感恩美國慈濟人十五年來就地取材，為苦難人救病解困。

按照內容分類，細心佈置，美國慈濟志工要慶祝義診中心成立十五周年，貼上一張張海報，從成立緣起，到感人個案，要讓牆壁也能說故事。

為了救拔病苦，美國慈濟義診中心成立十五年來，每個星期二到星期六提供醫療服務，至今服務了20多萬人次。不光是在美國境內，從北美洲到中南美洲，哪裡有災難，他們就到哪裡去。

以病為師，以人為本，慈濟人醫會志工，為苦難人去除病痛，妙手仁心要引導人人，心中清平安定。
2008-11-01 21:08:38