Unplanned South Korean
health care review
To the editor:
I am home now. After an adventurous summer learning about broken bones, the Korean Health Care system, and imagination, I am home for a while. I had wanted to write about summer school programs and some of the things that make Korea a fun place. After a trip to an arts center during one of the hottest weekends in Korea I ended up breaking an arm. Things happen.
Health care in South Korea is comparable to what is available in the U.S. The medical staff at the hospital where I was taken took their jobs seriously. My capability with Korean is limited to some very basic phrases and an understanding of what some of the characters represent. It was a Sunday afternoon so most of the staff at the hospital were gone. However, the daughter of the Chief Surgeon stepped in. At 15 years of age, she had a facility in English that would make many native speakers pick up their ears. She was lucky that I was familiar with medical terms. We managed to get the problem fixed. Now it’s just the recovery that is taking time. It’s been very hard to type since my right arm had to stay still for much of August.
I had to stay at the hospital for a few days. Being the only English speaker in the ward presented a unique set of challenges that the staff worked to overcome. The first was the bed. I was just a bit longer than the bed allowed for. On my second day in the hospital, my feet hanging over the edge and looking out into the hallway I saw a sight. A large object came into view. This object seemed to be moving on its own. I could see a pair of feet under the object and thought that it was some sort of robot device. Then it stopped at my door.
Out from under the block popped the head of one of the male nurses. He looked into my room and then twisted this large block around so that I could see that it was some sort of chair, big, boxy, and square. With a few more quick moves he had maneuvered the chair into the room and placed it at the foot of my bed. Folding down the back cushion and there was now a surface even with the bed. I no longer had feet hanging over the edge! The Chief surgeon had sent his office chair up to the room as a solution to a bed that was too short.
There were many other moments of imagination as I recuperated. I learned much about the basic compassion of people even though I was hampered by a language problem. The nurses did an admirable job trying to pass on the instructions of the doctors and I ended up conducting impromptu English classes while they tried in vain to teach me a little Korean. We shared many laughs as I learned what Korean hospital food was like. Hint, chopstick skills are useful.
The doctors who worked with me had all done some of their school work in the U.S. and while they professed chagrin for their poor quality English skills they were able to make me better. I left with a new found respect for the quality of their care and they and the entire staff set an example that any country would be proud of.
You can not be a teacher unless you are willing to be a student. I learned a lot from the experience.
Castle Hill
