Still, Montara clinical gerontologist Eric Shapira drew on 35 years of medical, dental and humanitarian experience to cut through the fogs of politics and cultural barriers in Taiyuan, China.
“They have a burgeoning elder population which is aging and becoming chronically ill that they don’t know what to do with,” he said.
 Courtesy Eric Shapira With his translator, Daphne, at his immediate right, Eric Shapira talks to nurses and medical staff about an elderly stroke patient during his recent visit to China. |
Accompanied by wife Susan, making the trip through the International Executive Council, a non-governmental organization that sends teachers and professionals to developing countries for educational purposes, Shapira was due to meet and consult with doctors, clinicians and hospital administrators as well as patients, to discuss elder care, hospice and related topics. He had prepared several lectures, which he would eventually deliver to about 350 nurses, 150 physicians and about 50 dentists.
From the outset, the trip was an emotional one. The Shapiras arrived in Taiyuan — southeast of Beijing — just two days after the most powerful earthquake in three decades killed thousands and devastated Sichuan.
That was a day of national mourning and prayer, with sirens wailing and horns sounding. Shapira was scheduled to speak before about 500 listeners, and could not avoid the disaster.
So he spoke of how one can prepare for anticipated losses like expected deaths, but there is no such choice when tragedy strikes, affecting those left behind with emotional pain. These were things others can identify with, he added, noting that Americans supported the stricken people.
Despite his reassuring words, he was uncomfortable. It was a feeling that was not lessened by the political uniqueness of his position. Not long after his arrival, in the Shanxi province, he met with Communist Party officials and hospital administrators, and realized that he was the first American to do so. Then the importance of his visit struck home.
“I realized this was more than a volunteer lecture visit,” he said. “It was a political statement. I was a little anxious.”
But he concealed it under a flurry of visits, consultations and patients. He made rounds in the mornings of clinics with geriatric patients, discussing their care and working with the families of the dying. He discussed and taught end-of-life care to medical personnel who struggled to grasp the concepts of hospice and palliative (pain-controlling) care. He discussed his research into illnesses like Alzheimer’s disease. He visited dental patients and showed doctors how to treat various conditions.
Remarkable moments punctuated the visit. He visited an 82-year-old, comatose stroke victim, to discuss his care with his family, who did not want extreme measures to prolong his life.
The family was upset that their relative was unresponsive, and Shapira suggested talking to him, noting that comatose patients “can sometimes hear you.” So the attending nurse, speaking in Chinese, introduced Dr. Shapira who had come from America to help — and the patient responded.
“As soon as she said that, he opened his eyes and sat up,” Shapira said. “(The nurse) jumped back and screamed and yelled in Chinese. The translator said she said I had supernatural powers. I was freaked out.”
He had a less frightening experience with another patient, a woman from Canada who was stricken with appendicitis. Shapira assisted her doctors.
The visit had other challenges. Pollution and thick cigarette smoke made it uncomfortable to breathe deeply. He was discouraged from talking about Tibet or the government. But he was embraced by the Chinese people.
He was made a visiting professor of geriatric medicine. He was invited to teach at a medical school in Xian. Some hospital administrators were not able to attend his lectures, so he was invited back.
“That made me very happy,” he said. “I thought it was kind of them to do that.”
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