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Help Patient Travel Back to China
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Mr. Wan, Changzhong (万长忠) from Hunan Province (湖南省常德市汉寿县城关镇) was dropped off at Overland Park Regional Medical Center one day when he was starting to have slurred speech and left sided weakness. He was treated emergently and was found to have had a stroke. He was in the Intensive Care Unit where he was on a ventilator. Since he could not talk at that time, the hospital was not able to find out who he was for some time. There were no friends or family who came to visit. |
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Once he was able to breathe on his own and be off of the ventilator, he was able to start to tell the hospital who he was, but because of his stroke he had a lot of confusion. Also, Mr. Wan did not speak any English and the hospital staff had to use an interpreter phone to communicate with him. Mr. Wan had no known permanent residence in Kansas City and all of his family was back in China, he had no one here to assist him. He was able to speak with his brother once, but it was very difficult to make contact with his family. Through the assistance of the Chinese Consulate General office in Chicago, updates and information were relayed to the family in China. Each day Mr. Wan improved and he worked very hard with the Physical and Occupational Therapists. The stroke had left him paralyzed on his left side, so that made it very difficult for him to be able to do things on his own. Mr. Wan wanted to go back to China to be with his family, but with his new disability it was very difficult to arrange for the trip back to China. He was not able to travel alone, he needed some assistance. With help from KCCA, Emmanuel Chinese Baptist Church, and the Consulate General, Mr. Shang Zehua （商泽华）volunteered to escort Mr. Wan on his trip back to China. KCCA representatives visited Mr. Wan multiple times and asked its members to help with his ticket through donation. 5 days after KCCA began collecting donation, we received $695 in total. Our special thanks go to Leslie Zhang at Gateway Travel who pledged the first donation and helped Mr. Wan book his ticket home for March 22 departure.
While in the hospital, he became very close with the hospital staff and called the staff “his family”. It was a great learning experience for the hospital staff and Mr. Wan. The hospital staff learned some Chinese phrases and about the spicy food that Mr. Wan likes. Mr. Wan started to learn some English and was able to minimally converse with the staff in English. He worked very hard with his rehabilitation and in the few days before he left the hospital, he was able to walk down the hall with a cane and little assistance from the physical therapist. The Friday before he left, a going-away party was thrown in his honor. Members of the KCCA and Emmanuel Chinese Baptist Church came to the party, and per Mr. Wan’s request, Chinese food was ordered! Mr. Wan is very lucky that he was able to improve and recover enough to make the long trip back to China to be with his family. He will be missed!
KCCA would like to thank the social worker Megan Thum at the Overland Park Regional Center who played an important role in helping Mr. Wan and communicating between the patient and all the other parties involved. Countless hospital staff worked tirelessly behind the scene day and night for the past 3 months. Mr. Eric Li (李二喜) drove Mr. Wan and Mr. Shang to the KCI airport very early morning on March 22. Our great appreciation goes to Mr. Shang who was willing to help Mr. Wan on such a long journey home. Mr. Wan’s trip back to China could not have been a happy ending without everyone’s generosity and heart. KCCA applauds your efforts!
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