Crisis in Japan - Page 103

Her insurance policy barely held shape, torn by seawater. It gave her senior coverage.
“The water was right there. I just happened to have it with me, because I was planning to come to the hospital. So, so lucky.”
“Where’s your home?”
“Washed away. There’s nothing left,” she said with a pause.
“Okay, let’s take your blood pressure.”
“Okay…”
An elderly lady from Yuriage, Natori City. Her insurance paper was soaked.

A tenth-grade girl, Azusa-chan, came to the hospital with stomach pains.
“When did it start?”
“Yesterday.”
“Diarrhoea?”
“Yes.”
“Where do you live now?”
“The shelter at Shimomasuda Elementary.”
“Ah… must have chilled your stomach. It’s cold right now. Where are your parents?”
She wouldn’t respond.
“Hm?”
She was in tears.
“They’re both dead.”
Is this really Japan? Those things we witnessed across the world – they’re happening here in Japan.
I couldn’t hold back my tears. How is she going to live from now on? Who’s supposed to come home to her at the lonely shelter? Doctors aren’t supposed to cry on the job.
One after another, people visit the Tohoku International Clinic.

Shinsuke-san is a buff 78 year old, clearly a man of the sea.
“Please, please, just let me cry here. Everything’s washed away. I have nothing left. Can I just stay here and cry?”
All I could do was hold his shoulders.
Something had to be done about his high blood pressure.
“The hospital I always got my blood pressure medication from is gone without a trace. Can you spare me some medication?”
“Of course.”
“But I don’t have my insurance policy or anything.”
“It’s fine. Don’t worry about paying either.”
“Thanks, I finally feel a bit better.”
And he collapsed onto the sofa.
Dr. Namika was stuck in Sendai today, so I saw the patients alone. 55 of us in total. No electricity, no water. We write charts and measure medications by hand. It’s practically a field hospital. Akiko and Yuko drilled like mad through the office work.
But thank god for the two volunteer nurses that showed up today, Fumika Takahashi and Naoko Akiho. Fumika-san lives right by the clinic, and she used to work here part-time. She brought her friend with her.
And Sudo-san. He borrowed not one, but two power generators from Yamagata City, and set them up for us. I was so happy to have power at the end of the day, I was in tears.
But they were low-power, and gasoline is hard to come by, so we turned it off. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.

--Sudo-san installing the generators.
We did our work using head lamps.
--Preparing drugs in the darkness. We were dependent on flashlights.
It’s been a really long day. I just noticed I haven’t had anything to eat today, but we humans are tough creatures.
I read your comments in the evening. Thank you all so much. It’s all very encouraging.
I’m going to hunker down to help more patients tomorrow too.
I’m thankful for the love and compassion of humankind.
--Our team today at the pitch-black hospital.

We’re looking for nurses.
We’ve temporarily moved our headquarters to Yamagata; please consult there.
We’ll have more details on our blog soon.
Norihiko Kuwayama