Singer comforts patients through their final days
Print Edition
TIBETAN singer Sangye Tashi has abandoned his stage career to sing for the dying in Changsha.
His job is to relieve the suffering of cancer patients with his singing and provide end-of-life care to elderly patients suffering pain, the fear of death and loneliness.
At the Carnation Geriatric Hospital in the capital of central China’s Hunan Province, Sangye Tashi avoids the term “end-of-life” when asked to describe his job. “Our job is to love and accompany,” he said.
Hospices emerged in China just a few years ago and have been welcomed by the public.
More than 1,000 people have joined the Changsha Shifangyuan Elderly Hospice and Mind Care Center since it opened two years ago. Shifangyuan now has 40 hospices in more than 20 cities, with over 10,000 volunteers working in them.
Li Zan, director general of Changsha Shifangyuan, said that of 200 million Chinese aged over 60, more than 40 million are critically ill. Most are disabled, blind, or suffering from conditions such as Alzheimer’s and aphasia.
“It is a serious challenge for families and society. Something must be done,” he said.
Tang Zhuozhuo, 72, is the oldest volunteer in Changsha. For two years, she has accompanied more than 200 people, aged from 53 to over 100, to the end of their lives.
“None could care for themselves, but they were all lively in my eyes. They were my friends,” she said.
Once she found an old man sitting alone in the corner of a room. Another volunteer told her she should ignore him and take care of others as he was “speechless” and “needed no companion.”
Tang chatted with him and visited him often. She knew he was a retired professor and began to share her appreciation of teachers and, slowly, he turned his head and gently took her hand.
Tang feels grateful to every person she had accompanied. “They have shown their real lives to me and helped me overcome my own fear of death,” she said.
Sangye Tashi also feels validated by the job. When he sings his classic songs, the audience often sings along.
Once, an old man who never responded to anyone, whispered in his ear after hearing a song: “You are a nice person.”
“That day I realized that helping these people pass away peacefully is more worthy of my time than singing for fans,” he said.
Training a top priority
Most patients in Changsha hospices have a life expectancy of 10 months to three years. Currently, only a small proportion of patients can access hospice care, as the waiting list comes mainly from nursing homes and community health centers, while experienced hospice workers are hard to come by. A top priority is to train more social workers and carers.
Luo Chun, a Changsha resident in her 20s, came to the hospice as her first job after graduation and encountered opposition from her parents who wanted her to get a “better” job.
“After seeing what I do here, my mom stands by me,” she said.
Luo has recruited a number of her former classmates.
“We have summarized 10 skills, including listening, eye contact, and reading aloud, but it is best just to start with a caring heart,” she said.
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