The success of Tzu Chi’s medical clinics is not based on monetary value but on collaboration with other volunteers and medical teams who work together to care for the underprivileged.
When Tzu Chi brought its fifth medical clinic to Ecuador in Santa Ana, the camaraderie between TIMA volunteers and local doctors was evident. Everyone worked together seamlessly with one goal: to ensure that the local people had their immediate medical needs met.
Tzu Chi volunteers started by receiving residents and welcoming them when they first arrived at the clinic. They provided forms and instructed them on how to fill them out before doing anything else.
If there was and is one thing that brings Tzu Chi volunteers together, it is that they continue to do what they do to help others, doing so out of compassion and love. By providing their help and guidance to those seeking medical attention, it brings these volunteers joy that they have done something for the good of humanity.
The Santa Ana clinic luckily drew the attention of many local doctors to offer their services to help.
One of the main missions is to work with the local doctors to introduce them to the spirit of Tzu Chi. Today, you can see I’m not really seeing patients because, thank goodness, we have so many local doctors.
The volunteer doctors tended to many patient ailments and medical needs. Local doctors gathered patient information on nutritional habits and other health information that will help the residents generally and for future doctor visits.
From helping one resident with her blood pressure pills to providing a shot for another resident’s chronic knee pain to prescribing an antihistamine for a young patient’s allergies, the doctors at the Santa Ana clinic were able to remedy many medical situations.
I felt pain in my back, in my backbone. They gave me acupuncture, and I felt relief. There are a lot of us who need help. Sometimes we don’t have enough money to go to the doctor. We are really grateful that they’ve come to help us.
The gratefulness of the patients is payment in kind to the local volunteer doctors. It is also a gift to Tzu Chi volunteers, who show and teach the importance of being selfless to help others.
They motivate you to help with everything you have with your resources and knowledge. Money is not the only way to help others. You can help in many ways.
