"It is with the
heart that you learn what love is and not with the head," says Dr. Kang,
an 82-year-old dentist who for 33 years treated without charge the
dental needs of patients suffering from Hansen's disease. The interview
on the occasion of his retirement, carried by both Catholic papers,
noted that he had been given a plaque in gratitude for his many years of
unheralded service to the Hansen Disease community. His free service
extended to over 15 thousand patients. In receiving the plaque, he
quoted the words of Cardinal Stephen Kim: It
took him 70 years for love to go from the head to the heart. The doctor
knows of what the Cardinal speaks, although humbly saying he only knows
what is meant in a superficial way.
Those he has served over
the years arranged the presentation with a party in his office. His
hearing loss and age made it necessary to stop his dental treatments,
begun in 1979, in the different Hansen settlements
throughout the country. He would leave his own practice and travel
without receiving help from other groups or organizations. He also would
take the molds necessary and make the dentures himself, not needing a
dental technician, saving a great deal of money. He did charge for the
materials used and would donate the money to the groups working with
Hansen patients.
Emma Freisinger, an
Austrian nurse who has worked with Hansen patients
for over 50 years, was hoping to have a doctor who would take care of
the
dental needs of her patients, and when Dr. Kang appeared it was too
good for words, she said. Patient's with Hansen's disease (once known as
leprosy) even if cured would have difficulty being accepted back into
society. They would have difficulty not only going to a clinic or
hospital, but
riding a bus, going to a restaurant or finding a place to sleep. It is
easy to see why Dr. Kang's services were enthusiastically received.
Over
the years, because of the doctor's work among the forgotten ones of
society, he has been asked for interviews by newspapers but has always
refused--until his retirement this year. He hopes that others will be
open to this kind of service to the poor and sick of our society.
In
the early days of his service to the Hansen patients he kept it a
secret even from his family, knowing they would be opposed. But in time
his wife and family were very supportive of his volunteer work. He is
also well-known in
Seoul for the dental help given priests and seminarians over
the years at his clinic, all gratis.
A volunteer working with
Hansen patients said that what Dr. Kang did for over thirty years means
he must have been doing it with a joyful heart, otherwise it
would never have lasted that long. There is a need for this kind of
service in society, and thankfully, we do have it. Dr. Kang is an
example to the younger generation of what it means to find a place in
their own life for this kind of service to others
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