Page 31 - 42-Winter 2014_Final

Quarter Century of Compassion
Medicine (1989-1997)
Tzu Chi in the USA
1989 – 2014

n 1989, Tzu Chi’s first home in the United States was established
in Alhambra, California. In the largely Chinese-American
Icommunity of the surrounding San Gabriel Valley, seventy-
five percent of recent immigrants had insufficient insurance
coverage, and sixty percent of seniors aged sixty-five and older
did not have insurance at all. The area was also home to many
undocumented immigrants and homeless individuals. Across each
of these demographics, many lacked access to transportation and
encountered language barriers, leading to all kinds of difficulties in
making a living as well as in seeking medical treatment. In an effort
to bring light to those caught in the dark corners of society, when
the Tzu Chi office was moved to Monrovia, the original location
in Alhambra was transformed into a free clinic providing medical
services to those in need.
Through the hard work of Dr. Chin-Lon Lin, Buddhist Tzu
Chi Free Clinic (now Buddhist Tzu Chi Medical Center) officially
opened in November 1993 to offer free treatment in Western
medicine, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), and dentistry to
those meeting low-income eligibility. With both Western and
Eastern styles of medicine housed in the same facility, doctors
were fully equipped to provide treatments from both traditions,
a unique characteristic of Tzu Chi’s care. Since even many of those
with medical insurance had no dental coverage, the clinic also
offered dental services to meet this important need.
Alongside dedicated medical personnel, ninety-five percent
of the daily administrative work at the clinic relied on volunteer
labor, as volunteers from all different backgrounds activated their
compassionate hearts to contribute their time and energy.
In addition to the free clinic, volunteers began holding
regular community health promotion events to provide health
information and resources to members of the community. They
obtained flu vaccines to distribute during the flu season to seniors,
children, and individuals with poor immunity. They also organized
and offered physical examinations and necessary immunizations
for elementary and high school students before the beginning of
each school year, and provided dental checkups for students in the
neighboring school district.
Even in the very early days, the Free Clinic medical team began
holding occasional medical outreaches. After the major Northridge
earthquake in January 1994—just two and a half months after
the clinic opened—medical volunteers traveled to the epicenter
alongside the disaster relief team to treat patients affected by the
quake. The same year, Tzu Chi held its first major medical outreach
as more than twenty doctors, dentists, nurses, and pharmacists

www.us.tzuchi.org | 31