Sharing warmth, gaining wisdom
Tzu Chi Eye Center provided comprehensive consultations for the residents of a government-run elderly care facility in Tanay, Rizal.
Residents of the Haven for the Elderly, a government-run care facility for abandoned and homeless persons ages 60 and above, recently received much-needed comprehensive checkups from Tzu Chi Eye Center. Before dawn breaks on October 27, a 65-member team from Manila embarked on a two-hour journey to the elderly care facility in Tanay, Rizal for a medical outreach activity.
The medical team set up two separate clinics within the care facility’s compound: Tzu Chi Medical Foundation President Dr. Antonio Say and Tzu Chi Eye Center Medical Director Dr. Bernardita Navarro led one group in accommodating the ambulant or abled residents, and the facility’s staff and their dependents, while Deputy Medical Director Dr. Susan Irene Lapid-Lim and volunteer Dr. Catherine Macaraig visited the wheelchair-bound and bedridden residents in their quarters to check their eyes.
In addition to eye diseases, the doctors discovered that several residents also suffered from psychological conditions. They threw tantrums during consultation, making it more challenging to examine their eyes. Despite this, Tzu Chi’s volunteer ophthalmologists demonstrated admirable patience and empathy, and by day’s end, they successfully catered to 124 elderly residents and identified 94 who needed cataract and pterygium surgeries. They will be brought to Tzu Chi Eye Center in Manila for the operation. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Field Office IV-A, who manages the facility, will assist in the pre-surgery requirements and transportation of the patients.
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Drawing from previous experiences, Deputy Medical Director Dr. Susan Lim believed that a restored eyesight could contribute in improving these elderly patients’ overall health. “I have seen patients with depression. After operating on their eye and giving them better vision, even their general mood improves — from very depressed pre-operatively, they become more lively. They find new purpose again,” she said. “That is what we are hoping to achieve — to improve the holistic wellbeing of our patients and not just care for their eye.”
Haven for the Elderly’s Nurse Jocelyn Reyes said that they currently house 275 residents. Although primarily a palliative care facility, the Haven wished to provide their elderly residents a chance to live their days to the fullest, especially in light of the misfortune, neglect, and abuse many of them have been through. Hence, the staff’s efforts to look for organizations that will cater to their medical needs. “Tzu Chi is such a huge help!” Nurse Jocelyn said, claiming that they have been seeking out assistance from various organizations in the last two years to no avail. “Many of our elderly residents still enjoy walking around so if they have clear eyesight, we can prevent incidences of falls. It would also be beneficial if they could still read and continue their education to prevent dementia.”
80-year-old Grandpa Rio looked forward to having his eyesight restored. A former shoemaker in a factory in Marikina City, Grandpa Rio lost his job when cataracts claimed his eyesight about three years ago. Life went downhill from there. He could no longer pay the house rent so he moved from a friend’s place to another until he ended up in the streets, alone and cataract-blind. Grandpa Rio lost his wife to a lung disease in 2019. She did not leave him with a child either. The DSWD personnel who rescued him and brought him to the facility in Tanay were angels that Grandpa Rio would forever be indebted to. “Life in the streets was difficult,” Grandpa Rio recalled. “It is a lot better to stay here. It is comfortable. There’s bed to sleep on and food to eat.”
After a consultation with Dr. Say, Grandpa Rio was advised to undergo cataract surgery at the Tzu Chi Eye Center. He immediately agreed. “I am so thankful that we were given an opportunity to be seen by eye doctors today,” he said. “I want to go back to making shoes after my eyesight is restored.”
The volunteer ophthalmologists’ visit also came at an opportune time for another resident, the 66-year-old Grandma Cristina. She was rescued from the streets and got settled at the Haven for the Elderly only three days ago. She had bruised around her eyes and neck — telltale signs of the abuse she went through but would not talk about. Everyone worried that such violence could have resulted in serious eye injuries. However, volunteer ophthalmologists’ examination revealed that her eyes were luckily still healthy. Grandma Cristina thanked the medical team for their concern after the consultation.
Hearing all the sad stories of the elderly in this residential care facility gave Tzu Chi Eye Center’s Medical Director Dr. Navarro a renewed appreciation for her blessings and the meaningful work she gets to do. “Just how lucky am I to be surrounded by family and friends?” she mused. “Master [Cheng Yen] said: we do not have control of the length of our lives but we can control its depth and scope. So let’s give of ourselves. If we can help them see the world again, that would be the last thing that they would bring with them: that someone had cared enough to help.”
True enough, such kindness remained vivid in the heart and memory of 75-year-old Grandma Baby thirteen years since she last had her eyes checked by Dr. Navarro.
Grandma Baby underwent corneal graft surgery and consultations with the help of Tzu Chi’s Eye Clinic in 2011. Although that procedure still failed to restore her vision (it being the last in a series of surgeries she underwent in other hospitals), Grandma Baby continued to be indebted to the Buddhist charitable group.
Now that she had come across Tzu Chi’s ophthalmology team again, Grandma Baby can finally allow herself to undergo surgery — something she refused to do despite the opportunities that came in the over a decade of stay at this residential care facility. “I did not want to have my eyes operated because I was scared,” Grandma Baby said. “But now that Tzu Chi will do the surgery, I feel encouraged. Their service was extraordinary. They even provided us with food when we used to go there for our checkups.”
“Even if we did not have the money for a surgery, Tzu Chi cared for us very dearly,” Grandma Baby added.
Tzu Chi founder Dharma Master Cheng Yen encourages volunteers to view every individual as a potential teacher, capable of imparting valuable lessons. Although they were the ones who brought assistance for the residents of DSWD’s Haven for the Elderly during this visit, the medical team felt they benefitted the most from the lessons gained from the experience — the most important of which was: Life’s true value lies not in its longevity but in how well it was spent.
