Guandu Hospital Project

guandu hospital, taiwan

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All photos were taken by me. You may only share these photos if you include proper credit (linking back to my blog), and you may NOT reproduce them in any way or claim them as yours. Thank you for understanding!

I visited Guandu Hospital for about two weeks. These pictures were taken in various places throughout the hospital, but all my stories (encounters with people, things I saw, etc.) took place in the nursing home on the twelfth floor.

All the conversations happened in Chinese but as a fluent speaker of the language, I made accurate translations and made sure to stick to what was said.

One particular old woman appears multiple times in my story. To avoid any confusion, I will include an asterisk (*) at the beginning of the description to show that she’s in the story. 

I hope you enjoy this project!

Guandu Hospital, Taiwan

1. 

The old woman looked at me sadly. "My kids just want my money," she whispered. "That's the only reason they come to see me."

2. 

The caretaker held up a cell phone to the paralyzed old man's ear. She had to use the speakerphone setting, for the old man could not hear well. That meant I could hear the man's son on the other end.

"I won't be coming over today either," his son spoke.

"Okay," replied the old man.

After the phone call, the caretaker had to wipe away the old man's tears for him.

3.

*

The caretaker tried to reason with the old lady. "Please, watch the television," she begged.

The old lady refused. "No, I want to go."

"Where are you going?"

I froze when the old lady gave her response. 

"I want to go jump off of this building."

.

.

Note: she was kept in the room until she didn't speak of it anymore.

4.

My grandfather lost the ability to think clearly at times, but he hasn't forgotten his music.

He used to love playing the ukulele, but he hadn't had access to one in months. When my father brought one to him, we hoped that the instrument could bring back some memories, but we didn't get our hopes up.

As my grandfather plucked the strings, he frowned. "It's out of tune," he murmured. Then he proceeded to tune the ukulele perfectly and play his favorite songs.

5.

A pretty woman visited her paralyzed husband. She dressed very elegantly and smiled at all of us kindly.

When it was time to eat, she fed her husband. Well, perhaps "fed" is the wrong word. She filled the spoon excessively and practically forced the food into his mouth. Before he finished chewing, she would shove more food in. She stuffed him again and again, and when she wiped his mouth with a towel roughly, she would place it on top of his head.

I looked around the room. Everyone looked equally confused and shocked, but no one dared to say a word.

*

Then the little old lady spoke up.

"Don't be angry," she said softly. "He's already eating quickly."

6.

*
"It's just my legs," said the old woman. "My mind works fine. My arms work fine. But I can't walk. I'm lucky, you know? I don't have any illnesses or anything. It's just old age. My time is almost here. But I'm very lucky."

It was the last day before I left Taiwan. "I'll try to come back and see you again," I told her. But we both knew that was very unlikely.

She looked at me and smiled. "You'll have a good life ahead of you. I see it."