By Henry Hsu, MED 2015 Participant
Since I got the opportunity to visit Stanford and join the MED program this summer, I have been really excited to understand medical care in USA more deeply. Among all the topics, I’m especially interested in the spiritual care, which is a unique caring approach that most Asian countries lack.
I was really impressed by the sharing of chaplains, which they touched my heart truly. For most of the time in the medical field, patients were only dealing with medical care from certain medical workers. They had to take a great amount of medicine, undergo surgery in order to fight for their health. However, the only people they got to meet from the hospital were the ones on the medical team, which are the doctors and nurses, in other words. As awareness about mental caring for patients rose, the entire medical community started to cast light on the patients’ mind. It seemed like besides curing patients’ physical pain, we should also take care of the mental aspect of patients simultaneously. And that’s what the chaplains spare no effort in supporting nowadays.
One of our members asked the chaplain about how he copes with the emotion he encounters in hospitals since he has to face so much sorrow. The reply of the chaplain was so touching that it still lingers in my mind. He said even now he hasn’t figure out an answer. Being an architect for most of his life, he didn’t expect he would become a chaplain. By coincidence, he got a chance to access the divine job as a chaplain in Stanford Hospital. He enjoyed having conversations with patients and their families, and that’s the only reason he loves what he’s now doing. I could tell the tear was rolling in his eyes when he was sharing his experience, but meanwhile, I could also tell how much he embraces his patients, friends, and family. “I’m still working on how I could cope with sorrow. I’m always learning.” said the chaplain. That’s right. The combination between human beings is so tight that I believe no one could easily accept the death of people close to you. I respect those chaplains. I appreciate them for offering the strongest power to patients, which I believed that once the spiritual care could combine with medical care, the patients would undoubtedly get the best care. Besides, the family would receive a great amount of support, which accompanies them to overcome the difficulties and challenges throughout the care of their love ones.
Last but not least, I enjoyed this program a lot. I got to know the differences of health care system between USA and Asian countries, besides, all of the members really build a great relationship. I’m looking forward to the next two weeks. Hope everyone can have a great one!
