| Nun's care for destitute patients wins hearts |
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| Written by UCAN - Kozhikode, India |
| Thursday, 26 February 2009 10:00 |
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Kanaran was in a desperate state after some people brought him to Calicut Medical College a year ago for a medical assessment. Doctors at the government-managed medical school diagnosed the 65-year-old Hindu with bladder cancer and gave him a few months to live. However, he improved slightly after treatment and the medical school referred him to its palliative care unit. Kanaran recalled that what was more painful for him was being abandoned by those close to him in his time of need. "I had no one to call my own because my relatives had already forsaken me," he recounted. At the Institute of Palliative Medicine, he met Sister Merlin Chitteth, a head nurse who not only helped him accept his suffering but also found him a shelter to live in after he was discharged. Kanaran is among hundreds of poor and destitute cancer patients whom the 46-year-old Franciscan Clarist nun has helped face their illness courageously, said Suresh Kumar, a physician and the palliative institute's director. "Sister Merlin represents the true spirit of nursing and a role model for the nursing community in India," he stated. "She probably is the only nurse in the government sector in India with maximum experience in caring for poor, incurably ill and dying patients." The nun, who joined the medical school 19 years ago, has spent nearly 15 years working in its pain and palliative care center. In 2008, the Indian government gave her the Florence Nightingale Award, a national recognition for meritorious service in nursing. What Kumar finds "exceptional and unique" in Sister Merlin's service is that she goes beyond nursing care to support poor patients. She sent Kanaran to Yesu Bhavan (house of Jesus), a cancer care center, where he is now spending his last days. The Medical Sisters of St. Joseph manage the center in Thamarassery near Kozhikode, a major town in Kerala, southern India, formerly known as Calicut. Kanaran said he knew his illness was incurable, "but Sister (Merlin) helped me to accept it and face death with peace of mind." Vijayan, 62, another Hindu resident of Yesu Bhavan, said the nun has helped him to face death fearlessly. "I am confident she will take care of my remaining days," he declared. Kumar pointed out that Sister Merlin and her volunteers visit patients' homes and counsel their relatives on how to deal with the situations they face. The nun also finds sponsors for poor patients and gets help from various business enterprises in Kozhikode for her work. Her association with destitute homes in the town also helps her find shelter and food for many terminally ill patients. Sister Merlin resides in the medical school's hostel for women to allow her to be near her patients. She shared that she decided to take up this service to the dying and critically ill after recovering miraculously from a severe blood disorder. "I choose to work in the pain and palliative care centre because it is where I can really serve the poorest patients," she said. According to her, terminally ill patients need "more care and support to cope" with their sicknesses. She explained that she chose a government hospital to work in as poor patients usually go there for free treatment. "Being in a government hospital gives me more opportunity to serve the poorest than I could have done in a Catholic hospital." |
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