—Severance Volunteers Helping Needy Individuals and Families
On April 3, staff members from Severance Hospital visited a run-down home to provide assistance for the twelve-year-old boy named Lee and his grandmother who live there. The house was draughty due to inadequate insulation, and mold had sprouted in corners and on the walls. Lee, a middle-school student, is smaller than other children his age, and he suffers from epilepsy. His goal is to become a scientist, but it is difficult for him to study because of the lack of space in their home; there is a single room for Lee and his grandmother and another for storage and his grandfather’s memorial.
Severance Hospital decided it could help the family by improving the environment and creating a study space for Lee. The staff members replaced the old wallpaper, added insulation, and installed a new linoleum floor. They also presented Lee with a desk and a computer. Lee’s grandmother was visibly touched by the generosity, saying: “Severance has helped my grandchild.”
50,000 Won in Seed Money Being Distributed to More than 6,000 Individuals in Need
In order to affirm the spirit of Jejungwon, Severance Hospital has created the “Sharing Joy Project,” raising almost 310 million won. The project involves distributing 50,000 won in seed money to nearly 6,200 individuals in need. And it has been a truly team effort; along with professors and doctors, Severance staff members who provide security, parking, and cleaning services are also taking part in the project. In teams of six, the volunteers visit the residents to deliver the funds. Severance Hospital General Director Yoon Do-heum praised the spirit of the volunteers and said: “We should use this project, which practices sharing, to rethink the identity of our institution.”
Delivering Help to Neighbors
Severance’s spirit of sharing is concretely demonstrated in many other ways. Professionals from the hospital visit the Health Center and Community Mental Health Center in Seodaemun-gu to offer their assistance to residents. Severance volunteers have delivered washing machines, televisions, and computers to more than sixty needy households, while also replacing wallpaper and installing linoleum floors. Such efforts are touching the lives of immigrant families, such as that of Yan, a single mother from Vietnam, and her son. To make Yan’s life easier, Severance presented her with a new washing machine and refrigerator.
Severance takes pride in offering gifts to underprivileged children. A nine-year-old girl being raised by her grandmother due to her parents’ divorce was given a bicycle. An eleven-year-old who has suffered from ADHD since her parents’ divorce received tickets to a musical, furthering her dreams of becoming an actress. And a nineteen-year-old was given a hanging rack and rice cooker for his room.
Volunteers from the Intensive Care Unit regularly distribute packages of rice and noodles, while those from Nuclear Medicine bring cooking briquettes and other necessities to families in need. Volunteers have also made flower gardens. Nursing teams frequently visit the Mapo Senior Welfare Center and the Goyang Social Welfare Center to drop off rice, cooking oil, and nutritional supplements. Another nursing team provides free health and exercise classes. Pharmacy volunteers visit lower-income, disabled, and elderly residents who live alone, bringing them bags of rice and first aid kits. Radiology teams stop in at nursing homes, welfare centers, and migrant workers centers in the regions of Goyang, Ganghwa, Yongin, and Bucheon. There, they deliver school supplies, clothes, and other daily necessities.
Unconventional Ideas for Sharing
A Severance nursing team partnered up with photographer Lim Su-min to put on an exhibition in Itaewon displaying photographs of the everyday lives of residents in Woosadan Village. Held over ten days, thirty to forty visitors came each day to view the exhibition. A member of the nursing team explained that “the exhibition was intended for the residents of Woosadan Village, allowing them to see themselves and their lives as subjects of art.”
While the exhibition was going on, the nurses provided free medical services to more than 250 residents. They also opened a bakery and distributed special envelopes created by young artists in Woosadan Village.
Another Severance nursing team recently donated Little Anne and Baby Anne CPR mannequins and automated external defibrillators to the Global Missionary Training Center. These supplies are to be used in training missionaries to perform CPR in emergency situations that may arise during their work overseas.