Yesterday, I found myself standing in front of an unmarked corner of the Mennonite Hospital, waiting around...someone. I didn't know if I'd be met by a person, car, truck, bus, etc. Apparently, I was waiting in front of the staff dormitory. You really think there'd be a sign or something. I was getting antsy after about 10 minutes of waiting, when this Mennonite Hospital van with dark windows pulls up next to me. No one rolls down a window, no one gets out, the van just...parks. I wait for another two or three minutes, trying to not look like I'm staring into the car. Finally, the doctor that I was briefly introduced to a few days ago runs out of the dormitory doors. She's like (point) "ABBY?". I nod, stunned. Then she ushers me onto the car. It was kind of like being kidnapped but friendly.
There were two other people on the car and I'm still a little bitter, "Yeah, guys, thanks for letting me wait outside in the blistering heat for five minutes", but they turn out to be all right. haha. There's Li Rei, the driver, and Mei Hui, the nurse. I cannot remember the doctor's chinese name for the life of me, but she told me to call her Amy, correction, DR. Amy. Li Rei and Mei Hui are great talkers. After the get-to-know-you small talk, they immediately jump into hospital drama/gossip. It was kind of interesting to listen to because until now, I've been hearing it from the administrative side. The workers have a completely different story motivated by different concerns and it was apparent that there are discrepancies between what the workers hear and what the administrators know as well as what the workers feel and what the administrators think. Very interesting stuff. Apparently, I passed out about 20 minutes in so I can't tell you all about it.
It was the gentle jolting of the country highway, so rhythmic and calming. haha. I remember opening my eyes every once in a while and thinking, "I'm AWAKE." or waking up to find my mouth open and wondering if anyone saw. haha. After an hour and a half of sleeping, waking up, finding that the conversation was still pretty much the same as when I last checked in, we stopped at this small restaurant. It was a semi-buffet where you'd order any entree but could help yourself to an unlimited salad bar. I got the miso ramen, which was decent. I mean, the noodles and soup were good but not mindblowing. It looked like they took a bunch of hot pot goodies and dropped it onto the bowl. I didn't even bother to take a picture because it was so...normal. haha. The salad bar had lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, bean curd, watermelon, and coconut jello. I'm not even abbreviating. That's what there was. haha. There was also the sweetest salad dressing I've ever had. I think it was thousand island with kewpie mayo + sugar. I pretty much stuck to the bean curd. mmm. Still, all that for only 100 NT (about $4). Amazing. I'm not complaining. Ok, I am, but only so as to provide commentary on the meal.
The first village we hit up was only about a 10 minute drive away. When we started to pull up, Li Rei presses a button on the console and our van starts blasting music. It sounded like we had rolled down the windows, unloaded our arsenal of pots and pans, and started banging on them. "KIANG KIANG KIANG, MENNONITE HOSPITAL APPROACHING. BRING OUT YOUR SICK PEOPLE." hahaha. I was SO enjoying myself. We drive through the village, announcing our arrival, when Li Rei suddenly says, "Do you guys want to see the waterfall?" I'm like "HECK YES." I bet the villagers were pretty confused when the music started fading away into the distance as we pulled away. wahahaha. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous. The village is nestled in the valley between several large mountains. The waterfall was small, but there were mini-pools at the bottom that natives were swimming and fishing in.
I wanted to wade in, but Mei Hui warned us that there are pinching crabs. There were cute little old Asian people sitting in the middle of the shallow pool with a table-top grill set up, just cooking up some BBQ. That's totally being one with nature.
We set up our mini-clinic at the village leader's house. Mei Hui opens up the back of the van and converts it into a pharmacy. Dr. Amy just sits down at the living room table and starts seeing patients while Li Rei quickly converts the living room into a clinic. We only see about 7-10 patients per village so things are very chill. Amy explains that though Taiwan has universal health care, people who live in the villages pay the same monthly fee for care as citydwellers, but often receive lower-quality medical care if any at all. It is important for the hospital to send out these mobile clinics so they can bring medical resources to the rural areas. My job for the night was to measure blood pressure. With an electric machine thing. Basically, all I had to do was wrap the cuff around people's arms and press a green button. I didn't even have to record anything. Still, it was interesting to watch the interactions between Dr. Amy, Li Rei, and Mei Huy and the villagers. Some of the villagers were obviously drunk. There was this super cute kid who came up to me and kissed me on the cheek (I was sitting down.). I'm like "Aww...cute." Then he stuck his head in between my breasts. I'm like "LESS CUTE." Then he kicked a dog. I'm like "SATAN SPAWN!" There was the cutest dog ever with pleading eyes. He had a puppy's face but a dog's body. HE JUST WANTED LOVE. D: I wanted to load him into the van and take him home.
While seeing patients, it was obvious that I wasn't the only one who had difficulty understanding what the patients were saying. Each village/tribe has their own dialect and sometimes they intermingle their language with Chinese. Still, Amy was thorough and sympathetic. She asked them a lot of questions and answered theirs. I was a little unused to the way she prescribed medicine. I think it's a Taiwanese thing but almost everyone walked away with a prescription for at least one kind of medicine. Amy had gone outside to talk to a patient about her meds when all of a sudden, I see the biggest spider in the world scuttle across the wall. To my credit, I did not scream, shriek, or cry. I just said, "Oh, holy Jesus." all calm-like. The patient who's blood pressure I was taking gave me a quizzical look. haha. The spider's leg-span was about the size of my palm. It wasn't fat or hairy...it's legs were just...long. (shudder) The scariest part was that it crawled into a hole and disappeared. I made a mental note to stay away from walls at all times. Absolutely NO leaning.
We had more patients then usual at the first village so we left there about an hour later than we usually do. On our way to the second village, Li Rei asks if we want to get some shaved ice. Dr. Amy's like, "Won't we be late?" Li Rei responds, "Oh, it's fine. Sometimes we don't get there until 9." So we stop at 7-11 and Amy treats us to slurpees. Apparently it was buy one get one free. The next village had only three patients. My favorite one was the young man who described his boogers as having the consistency of longan. WAHAHAHAHA. On our way out of the village, Mei Hui points out a couple of mango trees. Upon hearing that I've never seen a mango tree, they immediately start scouring the trees for fruit to PROVE to me that they are in fact mango trees. It's about 9:30 PM, we're on a narrow dark dirt road on some random mountain, and we're driving sloooowly on the wrong side of the road, looking up. Hilarious. Li Rei stops the car, crawls out the driver's window and plucks me a mango. Not one, but TWICE he does this because apparently the first one is too small. I love these people. hahaha.
We drive for about twenty minutes up the mountain. At this point, I'm wondering where the hell we are going. We end up one of Mennonite's rural clinics. The night view from up there was incredible, especially with the moon glowing a dark yellow, wrapped in sheer white clouds. GORGEOUS.
There were two other people on the car and I'm still a little bitter, "Yeah, guys, thanks for letting me wait outside in the blistering heat for five minutes", but they turn out to be all right. haha. There's Li Rei, the driver, and Mei Hui, the nurse. I cannot remember the doctor's chinese name for the life of me, but she told me to call her Amy, correction, DR. Amy. Li Rei and Mei Hui are great talkers. After the get-to-know-you small talk, they immediately jump into hospital drama/gossip. It was kind of interesting to listen to because until now, I've been hearing it from the administrative side. The workers have a completely different story motivated by different concerns and it was apparent that there are discrepancies between what the workers hear and what the administrators know as well as what the workers feel and what the administrators think. Very interesting stuff. Apparently, I passed out about 20 minutes in so I can't tell you all about it.
It was the gentle jolting of the country highway, so rhythmic and calming. haha. I remember opening my eyes every once in a while and thinking, "I'm AWAKE." or waking up to find my mouth open and wondering if anyone saw. haha. After an hour and a half of sleeping, waking up, finding that the conversation was still pretty much the same as when I last checked in, we stopped at this small restaurant. It was a semi-buffet where you'd order any entree but could help yourself to an unlimited salad bar. I got the miso ramen, which was decent. I mean, the noodles and soup were good but not mindblowing. It looked like they took a bunch of hot pot goodies and dropped it onto the bowl. I didn't even bother to take a picture because it was so...normal. haha. The salad bar had lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, bean curd, watermelon, and coconut jello. I'm not even abbreviating. That's what there was. haha. There was also the sweetest salad dressing I've ever had. I think it was thousand island with kewpie mayo + sugar. I pretty much stuck to the bean curd. mmm. Still, all that for only 100 NT (about $4). Amazing. I'm not complaining. Ok, I am, but only so as to provide commentary on the meal.
The first village we hit up was only about a 10 minute drive away. When we started to pull up, Li Rei presses a button on the console and our van starts blasting music. It sounded like we had rolled down the windows, unloaded our arsenal of pots and pans, and started banging on them. "KIANG KIANG KIANG, MENNONITE HOSPITAL APPROACHING. BRING OUT YOUR SICK PEOPLE." hahaha. I was SO enjoying myself. We drive through the village, announcing our arrival, when Li Rei suddenly says, "Do you guys want to see the waterfall?" I'm like "HECK YES." I bet the villagers were pretty confused when the music started fading away into the distance as we pulled away. wahahaha. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous. The village is nestled in the valley between several large mountains. The waterfall was small, but there were mini-pools at the bottom that natives were swimming and fishing in.
I wanted to wade in, but Mei Hui warned us that there are pinching crabs. There were cute little old Asian people sitting in the middle of the shallow pool with a table-top grill set up, just cooking up some BBQ. That's totally being one with nature.
We set up our mini-clinic at the village leader's house. Mei Hui opens up the back of the van and converts it into a pharmacy. Dr. Amy just sits down at the living room table and starts seeing patients while Li Rei quickly converts the living room into a clinic. We only see about 7-10 patients per village so things are very chill. Amy explains that though Taiwan has universal health care, people who live in the villages pay the same monthly fee for care as citydwellers, but often receive lower-quality medical care if any at all. It is important for the hospital to send out these mobile clinics so they can bring medical resources to the rural areas. My job for the night was to measure blood pressure. With an electric machine thing. Basically, all I had to do was wrap the cuff around people's arms and press a green button. I didn't even have to record anything. Still, it was interesting to watch the interactions between Dr. Amy, Li Rei, and Mei Huy and the villagers. Some of the villagers were obviously drunk. There was this super cute kid who came up to me and kissed me on the cheek (I was sitting down.). I'm like "Aww...cute." Then he stuck his head in between my breasts. I'm like "LESS CUTE." Then he kicked a dog. I'm like "SATAN SPAWN!" There was the cutest dog ever with pleading eyes. He had a puppy's face but a dog's body. HE JUST WANTED LOVE. D: I wanted to load him into the van and take him home.
While seeing patients, it was obvious that I wasn't the only one who had difficulty understanding what the patients were saying. Each village/tribe has their own dialect and sometimes they intermingle their language with Chinese. Still, Amy was thorough and sympathetic. She asked them a lot of questions and answered theirs. I was a little unused to the way she prescribed medicine. I think it's a Taiwanese thing but almost everyone walked away with a prescription for at least one kind of medicine. Amy had gone outside to talk to a patient about her meds when all of a sudden, I see the biggest spider in the world scuttle across the wall. To my credit, I did not scream, shriek, or cry. I just said, "Oh, holy Jesus." all calm-like. The patient who's blood pressure I was taking gave me a quizzical look. haha. The spider's leg-span was about the size of my palm. It wasn't fat or hairy...it's legs were just...long. (shudder) The scariest part was that it crawled into a hole and disappeared. I made a mental note to stay away from walls at all times. Absolutely NO leaning.
We had more patients then usual at the first village so we left there about an hour later than we usually do. On our way to the second village, Li Rei asks if we want to get some shaved ice. Dr. Amy's like, "Won't we be late?" Li Rei responds, "Oh, it's fine. Sometimes we don't get there until 9." So we stop at 7-11 and Amy treats us to slurpees. Apparently it was buy one get one free. The next village had only three patients. My favorite one was the young man who described his boogers as having the consistency of longan. WAHAHAHAHA. On our way out of the village, Mei Hui points out a couple of mango trees. Upon hearing that I've never seen a mango tree, they immediately start scouring the trees for fruit to PROVE to me that they are in fact mango trees. It's about 9:30 PM, we're on a narrow dark dirt road on some random mountain, and we're driving sloooowly on the wrong side of the road, looking up. Hilarious. Li Rei stops the car, crawls out the driver's window and plucks me a mango. Not one, but TWICE he does this because apparently the first one is too small. I love these people. hahaha.
We drive for about twenty minutes up the mountain. At this point, I'm wondering where the hell we are going. We end up one of Mennonite's rural clinics. The night view from up there was incredible, especially with the moon glowing a dark yellow, wrapped in sheer white clouds. GORGEOUS.
Our work for the night is not done, however. Dr. Amy still has to type up her hand-written notes and print them out while Mei Hui needs to double-check that the prescriptions have been added to their medical records. At first, I sit and talk with Amy as she types. She tells me to ask questions about anything I don't understand. However, things kind of get off-topic every once in a while. We start talking about healthcare policies which led to politics...and we eventually end up talking about dramas. At this point, Amy stands up, and politely escorts me outside. She's like "I'm sorry. Talking to you makes me forget the time. Let's talk later." haha. The most polite kicking out ever. Still, she unveiled a little more to me than I wanted to know. She voted for Ah Bian because of the staged shooting, she thinks the KMT hired someone to shoot the son of the one of their own members in the face to get sympathy votes, and she likes Taiwanese dramas. Oh, girl, I liked you. ):
I decide to go take a shower while everyone is working so it can be open for them when they're done. I haven't even stepped into the shower room when I spot a spider lurking in the corner. Li Rei comes in to help me, but it is obvious he's afraid of spiders too because he reaches for a broom instead of doing the MANLY thing and killing it with his bare hands. While I'm waiting for him to kill the spider, a COCKROACH scuttles near my feet. I decide then that maybe I'm not going to take a shower that night. He eventually kills both the spider and the cockroach but on my second attempt to enter the bathroom, I see the dried carcass of a LARGE spider hanging in the corner. hurk. Any resolve I had before then shriveled up and died. I find myself hugging my shower stuff in the lobby, listenting to some stupid Taiwanese variety show about DHEP, while glaring death-daggers at a leech that's inching it's way across the floor.
Things were looking bad. Then, I realized there was no sitting toilet. As I looked down the row of holes, the slurpee from two hours ago started to make its presence known. I would have gotten down on my knees to pray, but I was afraid of what might be lurking on the floor. That night, Amy and I shared a room. We talked about a bunch of things, such as why do I want to become a doctor and why did she decide to become a doctor. haha. She's not a Christian. And I really felt called to witness to her. I didn't give her the watered down version of my answer but straight up said, "Because I feel that God is calling me in this direction. I'm in the right place right now." I'm usually really uncomfortable talking about my faith to non-believers, but it felt like we were just having a normal conversation. She talked a little about the problems she's been struggling lately with finding satisfaction/joy in her work. If I had greater balls, I would have offered to pray for her. Instead, I shared with her my similar problems and kind of danced around how we can cast our burdens onto the lord. hahaha. She's like, "Yeah, I noticed how Christians tend to be full of joy. It's interesting." That's what she said, "you qu" which means interesting or amusing. haha. After about half an hour of conversation, she says "Ok. We'll talk to here. Good night." I LOVE HER. I have been trying to do this move forEVER and this is the first time I've seen it work. Usually, you subtlely hint that it's getting late and you're super tired and it's time to sleep while the other party blathers on and on ("Good night." "Good night, see you tomorrow...oh yeah, what are we doing tomorrow--?). I am in awe.
Guys, I don't know how my bladder managed it, but I held my pee until breakfast the next morning. We headed out of the house by 6:40 AM to rendezvous with another mobile clinic. On the way, Amy stopped off to buy Dan Bing and Shao Bing (egg pancake and...pan-friend stuff). I work up the courage to ask one of the workers if there was a bathroom...a SITTING bathroom. Amy laughed when I skipped/ran my way to the back. haha. When we met up with the other van, Amy and I switched cars while Li Rei and Mei Hui headed back to the hospital. We headed off to another clinic to give physicals to the elderly.
The clinic set up about 12 stations, each station doing something like urine testing, blood test, weight, vision, etc. Amy and Mao Jie, a nurse, were in charge of giving pap smears. People would just show up, swipe their Healthcare cards, and go through a round of examinations. The pee station was located handily next to the bathroom. I was a little disappointed that there was no poo station.
I thought it was an American thing to hate pap smears. But nope, it's universal. People would pass by our station looking all interested, read the sign, visibly recoil, and try to back away. We offered entrance into a raffle to win a 42 inch LED TV and a free 2 kg bag of rice.
"Pap smear?"
"No."
"We have free rice."
"Fine."
hahahahaha. No joke. Around 20 people got pap smears for free rice. Gotta love Asian people. One old lady was particularly reticent. The head of the local clinic had to come over. She was damn smooth. The poor old lady had her pants back on before she even knew what happened. I was terrified for her. Anyways, I was in charge of passing out the free rice. Whee! I worked with two older sisters, Xin Wei and Ru Ing. I only managed to remember their names because I translated them into "Heart Butt" and "Breast Silver" in my head. Whoops, can't tell them that. Ru Ing had the cutest hair cut. I want her bangs. >:]
Just got back to the hospital about an hour ago. I'm dirty, sweaty, and all around gross. Before we parted ways, Amy wanted to "recap what I've learned". She talked about the three steps of Medical treatment and about how treating patients isn't just about healing diseases. Even though a little was lost in translation, I think I get the gist of what she was saying. You can't always just wait until patients are sick to treat them. Sometimes, you need to take a preemptive strike. The mobile clinic not only educates the villagers about how they can and should live healthier lifestyles and what practices put them more at risk for diabetes, heart conditions, and hypertension, but also works to prevent existing conditions from escalating into life-threatening diseases. Nipping these diseases in the bud helps save money for the patients, the hospitals, and the government, but more importantly, it saves lives. <--- wow, corny.
OK. I'm hungry. Haven't had lunch yet. I'm thinking I deserve some instant noodles. Taiwanese instant noodles are boss, yo.
I decide to go take a shower while everyone is working so it can be open for them when they're done. I haven't even stepped into the shower room when I spot a spider lurking in the corner. Li Rei comes in to help me, but it is obvious he's afraid of spiders too because he reaches for a broom instead of doing the MANLY thing and killing it with his bare hands. While I'm waiting for him to kill the spider, a COCKROACH scuttles near my feet. I decide then that maybe I'm not going to take a shower that night. He eventually kills both the spider and the cockroach but on my second attempt to enter the bathroom, I see the dried carcass of a LARGE spider hanging in the corner. hurk. Any resolve I had before then shriveled up and died. I find myself hugging my shower stuff in the lobby, listenting to some stupid Taiwanese variety show about DHEP, while glaring death-daggers at a leech that's inching it's way across the floor.
Things were looking bad. Then, I realized there was no sitting toilet. As I looked down the row of holes, the slurpee from two hours ago started to make its presence known. I would have gotten down on my knees to pray, but I was afraid of what might be lurking on the floor. That night, Amy and I shared a room. We talked about a bunch of things, such as why do I want to become a doctor and why did she decide to become a doctor. haha. She's not a Christian. And I really felt called to witness to her. I didn't give her the watered down version of my answer but straight up said, "Because I feel that God is calling me in this direction. I'm in the right place right now." I'm usually really uncomfortable talking about my faith to non-believers, but it felt like we were just having a normal conversation. She talked a little about the problems she's been struggling lately with finding satisfaction/joy in her work. If I had greater balls, I would have offered to pray for her. Instead, I shared with her my similar problems and kind of danced around how we can cast our burdens onto the lord. hahaha. She's like, "Yeah, I noticed how Christians tend to be full of joy. It's interesting." That's what she said, "you qu" which means interesting or amusing. haha. After about half an hour of conversation, she says "Ok. We'll talk to here. Good night." I LOVE HER. I have been trying to do this move forEVER and this is the first time I've seen it work. Usually, you subtlely hint that it's getting late and you're super tired and it's time to sleep while the other party blathers on and on ("Good night." "Good night, see you tomorrow...oh yeah, what are we doing tomorrow--?). I am in awe.
Guys, I don't know how my bladder managed it, but I held my pee until breakfast the next morning. We headed out of the house by 6:40 AM to rendezvous with another mobile clinic. On the way, Amy stopped off to buy Dan Bing and Shao Bing (egg pancake and...pan-friend stuff). I work up the courage to ask one of the workers if there was a bathroom...a SITTING bathroom. Amy laughed when I skipped/ran my way to the back. haha. When we met up with the other van, Amy and I switched cars while Li Rei and Mei Hui headed back to the hospital. We headed off to another clinic to give physicals to the elderly.
The clinic set up about 12 stations, each station doing something like urine testing, blood test, weight, vision, etc. Amy and Mao Jie, a nurse, were in charge of giving pap smears. People would just show up, swipe their Healthcare cards, and go through a round of examinations. The pee station was located handily next to the bathroom. I was a little disappointed that there was no poo station.
I thought it was an American thing to hate pap smears. But nope, it's universal. People would pass by our station looking all interested, read the sign, visibly recoil, and try to back away. We offered entrance into a raffle to win a 42 inch LED TV and a free 2 kg bag of rice.
"Pap smear?"
"No."
"We have free rice."
"Fine."
hahahahaha. No joke. Around 20 people got pap smears for free rice. Gotta love Asian people. One old lady was particularly reticent. The head of the local clinic had to come over. She was damn smooth. The poor old lady had her pants back on before she even knew what happened. I was terrified for her. Anyways, I was in charge of passing out the free rice. Whee! I worked with two older sisters, Xin Wei and Ru Ing. I only managed to remember their names because I translated them into "Heart Butt" and "Breast Silver" in my head. Whoops, can't tell them that. Ru Ing had the cutest hair cut. I want her bangs. >:]
Just got back to the hospital about an hour ago. I'm dirty, sweaty, and all around gross. Before we parted ways, Amy wanted to "recap what I've learned". She talked about the three steps of Medical treatment and about how treating patients isn't just about healing diseases. Even though a little was lost in translation, I think I get the gist of what she was saying. You can't always just wait until patients are sick to treat them. Sometimes, you need to take a preemptive strike. The mobile clinic not only educates the villagers about how they can and should live healthier lifestyles and what practices put them more at risk for diabetes, heart conditions, and hypertension, but also works to prevent existing conditions from escalating into life-threatening diseases. Nipping these diseases in the bud helps save money for the patients, the hospitals, and the government, but more importantly, it saves lives. <--- wow, corny.
OK. I'm hungry. Haven't had lunch yet. I'm thinking I deserve some instant noodles. Taiwanese instant noodles are boss, yo.
That's what the American government is trying to promote--early screening and diagnosing. Ways to prevent the onset of diseases, etc. in the first place. That's why there's kind of a push for more primary care physicians, to help take care of these problems before the specialists (who are more expensive) are needed.
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