The old saying that prevention is the best medicine is one that Tzu Chi medical volunteers believe in wholeheartedly as well as being compassionate about it.
Through education, patients can learn to live healthy lives on a daily basis. We often hear about the benefits of eating healthy and proper nutrition, exercise, drinking enough water and getting enough sleep. All of it as well as positive emotional well being contribute to a healthier way of life. And it all helps to prevent illness and ailments.
Prevention is better than treatment. Instead of having patients see doctors continuously, why not teach them how to prevent illness?
In order to educate patients, the Tzu Chi medical team created a pamphlet that features information on pain treatment. Patients can actually help manage their own pain by massaging their own pressure points in the comfort of their own home.
From education on many cancers, including colon cancer and stomach cancer to breast cancer and liver cancer, Tzu Chi Medical also provides education in dental hygiene and pharmaceutical nutrition. The volunteer doctors provide these services and give of their own free time during weekend clinics. They provide the services free because their goal is to help relieve their patients’ pain.
The goal of our lives is to service. I feel helping others is the greatest joy. I feel doing this is worthy of my time. I am truly joyful. Seeing people who were suffering feel better—I feel joyful.
At the heart of education and prevention is Dharma Master Cheng Yen who believes that if every Tzu Chi medical location works to help, it will all come together and make everyone’s life healthier.
“I think Tzu Chi is amazing…It makes me want to cry because Tzu Chi has done so much to help my families at school, my students and, also, the whole community,” says Lisa Soloman, principal of James Russell Lowell Elementary School. “It feels like they care and really want to help our families do better, whether it’s through education or through help, or just providing basic things that our kids need, whether it’s shoes or backpacks.”
To be able to provide the preventative care there must be funds, and that comes from donations of compassionate people everywhere in the community. It is not just the wealthy who give. No matter the finances of a person, each compassionate person gives what they can afford. When people come together in compassion, it is that love that helps heal the world.
