Second-year DPT student Jasmine Jao worked with her father, a retired pastor who travels to various churches in China to preach, to plan a mission trip that would include working with students at a college, and also treating patients at a hospital and leprosy colony. While her father made arrangements in China, Jasmine organized the trip along with SIMS (Students for International Mission Service). Two DPT faculty and eight 2nd-year students trained Chinese nursing students on bed mobility and transfer skills at Beijing Xinghua Health College. Then they treated patients in the PT department at Yanda Hospital in Beijing. The group also spent time at the Leprosy colony, assessing patients’ needs for adaptive equipment, prosthesis, and wound care. Pastor Jao was also interested in having the DPT group become good-will ambassadors to the Seventh-day Adventist Christians in China. The group met with four different SDA groups or Churches to sing and worship together. Since many church groups in China must meet in secret, Pastor Jao wanted them to engage with American SDA groups to encourage and uplift them as they face constant religious freedom challenges. “It’s important for our people to interact with young American Seventh-day Adventist professionals,” he said.
On Sabbath, they worshiped with church members in Taixing city and enjoyed a meal together. Then, on Sunday, they offered free physical therapy consultations and treatment to the church members. In addition to seeing the sights like the Great Wall of China, the team visited an SDA Sanitarium in the mountains on the outskirts of Beijing, where holistic medicine is practiced. Patients come for detoxification using mineral waters, salt rubs, and mud baths. Future trips will also allow these patients to be treated by PT students.