It all started with a phone call in December, 2013, when Mr. Yi-de Hsu from Chimei Hospital contacted GMISS and explained that, starting from 2014, Chimei Hospital would gradually replace its manual beds with electric ones. That actually marked the beginning of a series of meaningful donation projects of hospital beds. To date, in 2016, hospital beds donated by Chimei Hospital have benefited many countries in Central and South America, Africa, Asia, and South Pacific Islands, with 735 beds in 10 countries, including Solomon Islands, Swaziland, Myanmar, Haiti, Paraguay, Sao Tome and Principe, Tuvalu, Nauru, Mongolia, and Kiribas.
To facilitate the project, GMISS traveled to Chimei Hospital many times, getting the beds ready for reuse. Since it was a huge number of beds, cleaning and polishing workloads were simply intensive, and we had to ask for open space as ad hoc workshop, where we stored and refurnished the beds. We were "hammering" in the inventory of Chimei Corporation and "mending" mechanical parts inside the beautiful air-conditioned building of Chimei Hospital Liuying Branch. Once we were working outdoors by roadside without any shelter, which indeed was rare and unforgettable experience.
Most important of all, we had wonderful collaboration with Chimei Hospital, where the staff were really helpful, overcoming all kinds of challenges to ensure smooth operation. For example when we encountered weeks of torrential rain in Southern Taiwan, and the beds, then under outdoor tent, went rusty, they decided to retrieve beds from Liuying Branch in advance so that we could deliver sufficient beds in ideal conditions. We had wonderful memories thanks to the staff's sincere welcome and thoughtful assistance. However, just recently Chimei Hospital announced that it would be the last donation project this year since most hospital beds have been upgraded. We would like to send this note of gratitude to Chimei Hospital that "although the action of donation has come to an end, the intangible values from all these projects will forever last. Thank you Chimei!"