More so than volunteers in ordinary wards, the volunteers in the emergency room must have sharp eyes, good ears and good agility. In addition, they must have common sense, insight and nerve.

The emergency room, just as the name implies, is a place where doctors and nurses save lives that are in danger. Volunteers working in the emergency room must have a basic knowledge of first aid so that they can help the doctors and nurses whenever necessary. Furthermore, when a patient is sent to the emergency room, his or her family is usually very nervous. Doctors and nurses may not pay attention to the emotional reactions of family members, so volunteers are the best means to soothe and communicate with them.

Communication and discretion

Wu Wei-hsiang has been a volunteer in the emergency room at the Tzu Chi Hospital for six years. He thinks that in order to work efficiently in the emergency room, it is better for one to learn from experience. A volunteer must have the ability to deal with unexpected situations, as well as common sense, insight and nerve.

"Mama, it hurts so much," screamed a young girl as she was being brought in. A five-centimeter [two-inch] nail had punctured her right sole. A nurse drew the curtain, ready to remove the nail from the girl's foot. A volunteer stood beside the girl, consoling her and, at the same time, watching her so that she wouldn't move suddenly. Outside the curtain, other volunteers were with the girl's tensely waiting family.

After some screams and cries, the curtain was finally pulled open. Tears were still visible in the corners of the young girl's eyes, but it was all over and she was pushed out of the ward. The back of the volunteer's brown vest disappeared down the corridor.

Whether in the emergency room, the outpatient department, the ICU, the file room, the information desk or any other part of the hospital, we can see volunteers bustling around. They come from all parts of Taiwan. Before they start to serve, they receive basic training in nursing. They must understand the basics of their work and know how to communicate with patients.

Doctors and nurses in the emergency room deal with unexpected cases around the clock. The volunteers become good liaisons between doctors, nurses, patients and their families. Once during a flu epidemic, a couple brought their child to the emergency room. The worried father demanded that the physician care for his child first. A nurse said to him, "Everybody is waiting and they are just as anxious as you. So would you please wait a moment?" The father became so furious that he took up a chair, hurled it to the floor, and then rushed out of the room.

Wu Wei-hsiang immediately caught up with him and reasoned with him. "The emergency room is the place for saving lives in immediate danger first. I can understand your feelings as the child's father…" He finally calmed the father down and cleared up the misunderstanding.

While learning to communicate with patients, volunteers must also learn to be discreet. "I'm very careful not to say anything that we are not supposed to say, especially concerning the condition of the patients," said Wu Wei-hsiang. "After all, volunteers are not doctors or nurses. Furthermore, we have to be very careful if patients ask us to do something for them. Even if they only want to drink some water, we should not give it to them unless the doctor agrees. For instance, a patient with a head concussion could be put in danger by drinking water." Talking about this, Wu looked very serious because the fragile life of a patient in the emergency room cannot endure any negligence or mistakes.

On the front line

The emergency room is like the front line of a battlefield. Volunteers must have sharp eyes, good ears and good agility. They must be alert at all times. As soon as a patient comes through the door, they must immediately go look after the patient's family. Whenever they hear "Would you please…," they must take immediate action, whether it is to help calm a patient's emotions, take the patient someplace for further examination, fetch X-rays, assist in registration, or complete procedures for hospitalization. The volunteers must use their wits to deal with every situation.

A young man was once sent to the emergency room. He had lost one ear in a fight. A volunteer asked him the whereabouts of the lost ear. He said it was still where he had had the fight, but he did not dare to go back because his enemies could still be there. A volunteer immediately contacted the police. With a police escort, the volunteer was able to go back and find the ear, and it was stitched back in time.

One time a man fell from a roof while painting and arrived covered with paint. Another time a person was splashed with paint in a fight. When they came to the emergency room, the volunteers had to first find the proper solution to clean the paint off their bodies.

One situation that Wu remembers clearly was that of a female college student who had tried to commit suicide by jumping from the fourth floor. Her pelvis was crushed, causing tremendous internal bleeding. The doctor gave her a blood transfusion. However, the fresh blood could not flow into her body smoothly. Her life signs became weaker and weaker. Following the doctor's instructions, Wu put pressure on the injection tube, so that blood from the blood bag could flow smoothly into her body. The tube could only hold fifty milliliters [1.5 oz] of blood, so he had to use both hands to apply pressure. After several hours his hands were very sore.

Wu has always done his best to protect life that is wavering on the verge of death. He can still remember the soreness in his hands. He continuously goes to the wards to visit those who have been seriously wounded or who have tried to commit suicide and need special care. Once when he was walking on the road, he heard someone behind him calling "Papa, Papa." He turned around and saw a student that he had taken care of some time before in the hospital.

Good lessons

Experience is built up over time. Wu names the busiest times in the emergency room as during sudden heavy rains at rush hour, sudden sunshine after a few days of rain, between nine and ten in the evening when dinner parties are over, and between 1:30 and 3:00 in the morning when karaoke houses are closing. The emergency room is like a theater, and the patients have leading roles in the dramas. All kinds of strange things happen. All the situations are good lessons for the volunteers and also opportunities for them to do good deeds.

One year on the eve of the Moon Festival, a woman who was about to give birth was involved in a car accident. After examining her, the gynecologist was sure the embryo had no sign of life. "That woman looked at me as if she were begging us to do everything to save the baby, even at the sacrifice of her own life," Wu remembers. "That look is deeply engraved in my mind."

One time a college student went back home for the New Year, but he was poisoned by carbon monoxide fumes from the gas water heater in the bathroom. Wu said that although that young man looked like a hopeless case, the doctor still did his best and spent more than an hour trying to resuscitate him. If one life can be saved in the emergency room, it is a great joy. Otherwise, it is a terrible shame.

Sometimes, a life is sacrificed because of delay in sending a patient to the hospital. That is a terrible and often needless tragedy. Having seen so many cases of birth, aging, sickness and death, Wu has come to terms with his own life.

Some people want to live, and some want to die. Some die from a disaster or accident, while some take their own lives. If someone commits suicide because of love or dies from an accident because of too much drinking, Wu always feels deep regret for their ignorance.

Quitting drinking because of a dream

Before he became a volunteer, Wu used to drink heavily. "I had a mahjong partner whose wife was a Tzu Chi commissioner. Whenever there was a big Tzu Chi gathering in Hualien, she always invited me to help. I had been told that Tzu Chi was a good organization, so I always accepted her invitations. I always saw everyone working cheerfully and I was touched." Since 1993, he joined other volunteers in the emergency room in the Tzu Chi Hospital. Because of that, he quit smoking and gambling, but he still liked to drink.

On the eve of the Lantern Festival in 1995, he had a few drinks at home. Then he started to have severe stomach pains. His wife wanted to take him to the emergency room at the Tzu Chi Hospital, but he refused. He said that he knew the nurses there, and he was afraid that they would laugh at him. He would rather endure the suffering.

All of a sudden, Master Cheng Yen appeared in front of him and said, "Mr. Wu, didn't you say you would quit drinking? Why did you drink again? Are you in pain?" After asking these questions, she disappeared with a smile. Wu promptly fell to his knees, exclaiming with deep regret, "I will never drink again!"

He opened his eyes and found himself still lying on the sofa in his home. The whole thing had been just a dream, but the true repentance he had felt in the dream made him quit drinking forever.

Of all the Tzu Chi volunteers in Hualien, about forty work in the emergency room. They take the evening shift from Monday through Friday, Saturday afternoon, and all day Sunday. Every evening there are generally five volunteers, and on holidays there are three. If anyone is absent, Wu is always the best choice for a substitute. Because of this, he has spent New Year's Eve in the emergency room five times.