Dr. Chen-shen Cheng, Dr. Der-chao Fong, and nurse Li-yun Chuang won the "1996 Hualien County Outstanding Young Man/Young Woman Award" on March 28, 1996. This was the first time that staff members of Tzu Chi Hospital received this award. This was also the best gift to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Tzu Chi Hospital and, coincidentally the 30th anniversary of Tzu Chi.

Though all three said they had not done anything special to win the award, we believe they must have done something really great. None of them are Hualien natives. We were curious about what made these three young people come such a long way to a small, poor country county and devote their youth to Tzu Chi.

His Patients Are His Family

"He treats his patients like his good friends." That is what people say about Dr. Chen-shen Cheng.

We asked Dr. Cheng why he would choose to leave Taipei, the big modern city, and come to work in a simple country county in remote Eastern Taiwan. He was silent for a moment, then he answered seriously: "I chose to work for Tzu Chi Hospital because it is a charity organization. Here, we do everything with the principle of doing good things for people and sacrificing ourselves for people in need. I don't have to worry about making profits. I can devote myself to doing the things a doctor really should do."

Dr. Cheng was promoted to chief of the nephrology de-partment on April 1, 1996. His colleagues say that he never puts on airs. The head nurse, Ms. Li-yun Chuang, said: "He treats the patients like his own family. Three months ago, he was very upset because one of his patients kept losing weight, so he even cooked for the patient in the hope that he would recover sooner." The story of his thoughtfulness for his patients circulated quickly around the hospital.

Control of food and water quality is crucial for kidney dialysis patients; otherwise, there is a risk of high blood pressure and diabetes. Since Dr. Cheng started to work in the kidney dialysis department in 1995, the ratio of high blood pressure complications has been much lower. Dr. Cheng often visits his patients at home to check on their daily water and food. He gives almost all of his available time to his patients. If his patients hold any activities, such as parties or weddings, he always attends.

Enthusiastic And Always Learning

"I didn't expect that I would win this award!" Dr. Der-chao Fong was surprised that he could receive the award as he had been in Hualien for just one year. Still, he was obviously excited and happy to have this award. He was an intern at Tzu Chi Hospital in 1989. Now he is the attending physician of the nephrology department.

"I was deeply moved by the way our Tzu Chi sisters and brothers treated the patients when I was an intern at Tzu Chi." He felt that although the doctors treated the patients physically, the spiritual support and encouragement given by the hospital volunteers was the main factor that made the patients live better and stronger. He was impressed by the spirit of Tzu Chi Hospital and felt that the humanitarianism of Tzu Chi might be what he was after.

"Hualien is a good place to live," he said. He left his home town and came to Hualien last February. "There is a lack of medical resources and I can contribute more here."

Dr. Fong is interested in research and he is now studying in the graduate school of Tzu Chi Medical School. He periodically issues reports of his research in basic medicine in international journals.

Always There

Watching Li-yun Chuang walking vigorously and briskly in the hospital and comforting patients tenderly, you can feel the warmth radiating from her. Tzu Chi Hospital is her home and the patients are those whom she cares about most.

She looks young and pure with her black eyes turning innocently. She loves to laugh, and her laughter brings people closer to each other. She is now the head nurse of ward 26 in the west wing of Tzu Chi Hospital. Her colleagues say: "Patients are the most important to her. Even after working hours, if patients need her, she'll be there."

Young girls love to dream about the world, but Ms. Chuang was different. When she was not even 20, she thought a lot about the uncertainty of life. When she was in nursing school, she read an article by Master Cheng Yen and was deeply moved. The moment she graduated from nursing school, she left her hometown in Southern Taiwan and came to the remote, small county of Hualien to work for Tzu Chi. In the beginning, she planned to stay for only one year, but now she has been here for seven years. She feels that there is a lot to be done and she cannot leave. She wants to devote her time to Tzu Chi and to the great love and compassion for all living creatures.

Ms. Chuang is very compassionate and kind to her patients and frequently visits her patients at home. She is also a member of the volunteer team which takes care of dying patients in the community. Being a volunteer worker is her pastime. If you want to find her on holidays, you will find her in the hospital.

She volunteered to attend a training course to learn how to take care of AIDS patients. Once, even on her vacation, she accompanied a patient who was being transferred all the way to Taipei. Another time, a student nurse had to insert nasogastric tubes for patients. Ms. Chuang worried that the nervous, inexperienced student might hurt the patients, so she let the student experiment on her until she was familiar with the procedure.