Home>Service> Awardees of Fervent Global Love of Lives Award> 17th Fervent Global Love of Lives Award 2014> Olav Bjørgaas, Norway—A Doctor of Faith and Love
[Treat the world with love, and it will heal.]

No other profession allows for a closer connection with the local people than that of a doctor. I want to share my stories because I want them to inspire people to dedicate themselves to missionary or medical work. I hope my experience will enlighten young people living in Asia, or the entire world, if possible.
—Olav Bjørgaas
 
Love changes everything—the Norwegian Schweitzer
In his childhood, Olav Bjørgaas was inspired by Schweitzer’s charitable deeds, leading him to major in medicine in college. He became a missionary doctor of The Mission Alliance. In 1954, Olav and his newly wedded wife Kari came to Taiwan to practice the medical profession. His first hospital was Losheng Sanatorium, where he treated patients suffering from leprosy. After that, he joined the Pingtung Christian Hospital, and committed himself to establishing Victory Home, a center for children with disabilities—the first of its kind in Asia and the world’s eighth.

Since then, Dr. Bjørgaas has treated over 6,000 leprosy patients and 18,000 children with polio. In the past thirty years or so, his mission to save lives has led him to visit China, Vietnam, Bolivia, Haiti, Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, Malawi, and numerous other countries.

The Bjørgaas Social Welfare Foundation, founded to continue performing charitable deeds undertaken by Dr. Bjørgaas, safeguards the elders of Pingtung County with the same enthusiasm and devotion exhibited by the doctor. In addition, the foundation supports the community sanitation program of Malawi and, starting this year, that of Burkina Faso.
 
Love is lending help every step of the way
In 1954, the 28-year-old Olav Bjørgaas and his wife Kira came to Taiwan to treat patients of leprosy, tuberculosis, poliomyelitis, and cerebral palsy. He sucked phlegm from one of his patients with his mouth using a catheter. He donated his own blood to a patient for surgery. He paid medical fees from his own pocket. In a time when transportation was difficult, Olav even requested the assistance of the US Air Force to fly to the mountainous areas to administer vaccines.

Dr. Bjørgaas has been a doctor all his life. He is now aged 82. His children followed in his footsteps and became doctors just like him. Hanne Marit, his daughter, shares her father’s passion in finding hope for patients. For instance, Olav did more than curing patients—he helped children with polio to find work. He gave them a future without fear of uncertainty. 

When patients expressed their gratitude for what Dr. Bjørgaas has done for them, he found his life especially worthy and meaningful. “A smile, or a handwritten letter, warms me greatly. I am among the lucky few who are given to receive these kind gestures,” said Dr. Bjørgaas in a press. “I am blessed to lead this life—more fruitful than, say, a life in constant pursuit of career success.”
 
Love makes the world a better place 
Dr. Bjørgaas is no doubt a model for doctors. He once rode a motorcycle all night just to bring a patient’s body to the family of the deceased. Despite having heart problems, he donated his blood to save the lives of others. He imported vaccines and introduced treatment options for scoliosis correction. He made it his mission to eradicate poliomyelitis in Taiwan. He cared nothing for money, only what he considered the right things to do. His unselfish actions have improved the living conditions of underdeveloped regions. He is a fitting awardee of the Chou Ta-Kuan Foundation’s 17th Annual Global Love of Life Award.
 
Learning about love and humility in childhood
Dr. Bjørgaas suffered from the pain of disease and poverty himself during childhood. The ordeal he had gone through led him to become a doctor. He made a promise to himself: under no circumstances would he refuse a patient. Whatever the condition of the patient—be it chronic diseases, deformities, or conditions too complicated or troublesome for other doctors—Dr. Bjørgaas would treat the patient like his own. Thanks to him, tens of thousands of patients have found hope and regained self-esteem.

“Dr. Bjørgaas is one good man. Many a ‘strange’ kids are saved thanks to him,” recounted a Pingtung local who fondly remembered the doctor as a chubby Norwegian who smiled like a Buddha. Though Olav had left Taiwan for many years, he left a strong impression on the natives. Indeed, the doctor was not unlike an angel, whose goodwill and acts of miracles brought hope to many.

“When I was a kid, our family was very poor. To make things worse, my father had chronic disease. I felt the pain of poverty and disease early on in life, and witnessed for myself the kind of prejudice people reserve for those suffering from chronic diseases,” said Dr. Bjørgaas. His childhood experience had made a huge impact on the way he treated patients.

A fearless act of phlegm suction
Back in those days, Losheng Sanatorium had roughly one thousand lepers, but only one doctor.

Dr. Bjørgaas tried to care for these patients, but many of them have already had a bitter taste of bias and prejudice that was the norm of the society, so they kept their distance. These patients learned to fear people. To protect themselves, they learned to feign disinterestedness. After all, who would believe that some doctors would come from thousands of miles away just to help leprosy patients?

However, all this doubt was dispelled because of an incident. One day, a leprosy patient suddenly gasped for breath as phlegm got stuck in the respiratory tract. He sought help from Dr. Bjørgaas. Without a word, Olav raced to the patient, picked up a catheter, and sucked the phlegm from the patient’s respiratory tract with his mouth. Slowly, the patient recovered. His pallid face turned rosy red as blood rushed to his cheeks.

The scene sent shockwaves to every leprosy patient who bore witness. They came to a sudden realization: even though the society in general bore negative sentiments towards them, there is love and acceptance after all, and Dr. Bjørgaas is one of those rare individuals who harbored no ill will. His one involuntary act of unselfishness has gained him the complete trust of the patients.

Having worked in Losheng Sanatorium for two years, Dr. Bjørgaas discovered that most of his patients come from southern Taiwan. He began to visit Pingtung to treat patients. Undaunted by the scorching heat, they looked for patients who were rejected by all other medical institutions. Through their effort, nearly a hundred leprosy patients were located. With the help of the Mission Allicance, the Pingtung Christian Hospital was founded—a hospital requiring no medical fees from leprosy patients.

Olav cared deeply about how his patients felt. He never wore gloves when treating leprosy patients. He always treated lepers first to protect them from the ignorant public. He even requested for the service of medical home visits and drug delivery. Considerate about his patients’ feeling, Olav believed he would startle residents of a conservative community if a foreigner like him makes a medical home visit.
 
Medical service outreach
Upon arriving in Pingtung, Dr. Bjørgaas was charged with overseeing the clinic (which was later renamed Pingtung Christian Hospital). An outpatient and inpatient clinic department, medical ward, and surgical ward were set up.

The Mission Alliance sent another doctor—Dr. Kristoffer Fotland—to assist Olav. Together, they extended the reach of medical service to remote, mountainous areas. In addition to taking care of outpatients and inpatients in weekdays, they led a number of medical teams to travel to mountain tribes in Wutai Township, Haocha Community, and Mudan Township in Pingtung County, offering medical services free of charge.

During such arduous trips, aboriginal members of the team wielded machetes to clear the road ahead. Every morning, the team traversed hard to reach people living in remote villages; in the evening, exhausted team members struggled on their way back in pitch dark. Some of the team members had to take turns carrying patients who were very ill all the way down.

There was an outbreak of deadly measles in mountain tribes. As there were already many tuberculosis patients around, the onset of these two illnesses at once proved extremely lethal. Faced with the crisis at hand, Dr. Bjørgaas went to a bar in Kaohsiung frequented by US officers. He asked them to send choppers to help carry nutritious foods and drugs, a request to which they consented. It took merely a day for the chopper to go from village to village. Penicillin was administered to hundreds of residents, thus successfully ending the measles outbreak.

To this day, the tradition of bringing medical service to remote places is carried on by the medical staff at Pingtung Christian Hospital.
 
Donating both blood and money
From his own childhood experience, Olav knew what poverty and disease can do to people. Wu Ming Xue, one of the first few employees of Pingtung Christian Hospital, is grateful for Olav’s warm-heartedness. He would not receive any medical fees for impoverished patients, sometimes paying with his own money. Often, his unselfish acts left him with empty pockets—he couldn’t even pay the bus fare to go home.

One day, a patient urgently needed blood transfusion to undergo surgery, yet the family did not have the financial resources to make a request. Giving little thought to his own health, Olav made a blood donation himself. Immediately after the surgery, he stayed up all night at the patient’s bedside. On the next day, while Olav was assisting a surgery, he suddenly lost consciousness due to extreme fatigue. Such was his devotion to his patients.

On another occasion, a patient not long for the world requested that he be with his family in his last moments. Olav complied. Since the patient had no money, he carried the dying patient home while riding a motorcycle. Olav did everything he could to let the patient rest in peace.
 
Making children stand on their own legs
Tuberculosis used to be widespread in Taiwan. Many children unfortunately lost their precious lives because they could not afford going to the doctor. In light of the deplorable situation, Dr. Bjørgaas opened a hospital for children with tuberculosis. In the 1960s, there was a polio outbreak. Again, Dr. Bjørgaas turned his attention to treating post polio syndrome, and established the first children’s center for treating polio in Taiwan, accepting patients from all over Taiwan free of charge. Thanks to him, over 10,000 pupils did not have to lose their ability to walk due to poverty.

A nurse at Pingtung Christian Hospital remembered that Dr. Bjørgaas used to take a lot of unknown sick kids to the hospital every now and then. He would walk down the street, spot an ill child, and then bring him or her to the hospital. He did so before notifying the parents. Nurses had to work overtime to care for the growing number of patients.

To Olav, nothing is impossible. In 1962, he imported Sabin vaccines to vaccinate 4,000 children—the first large-scale polio vaccination program in the history of Taiwan. Few knew then that, without Dr. Bjørgaas’ effort in persuading US pharmaceutical companies to help out, there would not have been any vaccines available. 
 
To see what is needed and plan ahead
To allow child patients to move freely, Olav opened a braces factory to manufacture braces for polio-stricken children. Believing that education should continue for ill children, he sought the advice of the Principal of Taipei Ren-Ai Elementary School. As a result, physically-challenged children could go to school accompanied by nurses. This is a major achievement in Taiwan’s history of special education.

In 1975, Dr. Bjørgaas invited experts on scoliosis to come to Taiwan to instruct doctors how to operate on patients with scoliosis. Since it took two years to compete treatment for spinal correction, Olav collaborated with the Education Bureau of Pingtung County and developed a form of bedside learning—the first of its kind in Taiwan—in which teachers visit the children in person.

In 1978, Dr. Bjørgaas established the first ward to take care of children with cerebral palsy.
 
Love never dies
Dr. Bjørgaas’ eldest son, Per Samuel, and eldest daughter, Hanne Marit, are both inspired by their father; now, they are both renowned doctors in Norway.

Pingtung Christian Hospital currently has 200 doctors, 800 nurses (who oversee 800 beds), and over a thousand employees. It is a hospital directed by Luke International. It has sent medical staff to countries in urgent need of medical service over the years, including China, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, and Malawi.

In 2013, Dr. Bjørgaas came back to Taiwan. He was 87 years old. Looking back on his achievements, Olav attributed them all to God, “Through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, we can become His vessels; thus we are able to complete His work.”

Hsiao Chin-mien, creative director of CommonWealth Magazine, reflected on what she learnt from Olav, “His force of character comes from love and humility, both of which are key values that should be carefully examined by our generation.” Indeed, it is just as the doctor had hoped for—he would be happy to know that his deeds are a true inspiration to kids of this generation.

One of the first young men inspired by Olav was the second son of his fellow colleague Dr. Kristoffer Fotland. “I have known Dr. Bjørgaas since I was a child. He is a man who cares deeply for others. It’s been a pleasure to see him work with my father, the two of them being fellow missionary doctors.”

Another man who was enlightened by Olav’s achievement was Steve Chang, the CEO of Trend Micro. He witnessed Dr. Bjørgaas donating blood to aboriginal patients in Sandimen Township. This particular scene left a strong impression on him. Steve later founded Flow, Inc., a social enterprise, largely because of Olav’s influence.

Our doctor’s all-encompassing love
“Dr. Bjørgaas is the pioneer of children’s polio treatment in Taiwan. He imported vaccines, invited experts, transported children to Hawaii on US military aircrafts to have their braces made, and facilitated the transfer of technology for making polio braces to Taiwan. His contribution is staggering,” remarked Kan Liu, Board Chairman of Pingtung Christian Hospital.
 
Many who have benefited from the philanthropic acts of Dr. Bjørgaas said they could not thank him enough. “When Olav came back to visit Losheng Sanatorium, I had the honor to accompany him. We were greeted very briefly by a patient before he hurried away. Just when he had us wondering, he returned with quite a crowd behind him, all gathered together to give Olav a big, hearty welcome!” reminisced Liu. “He had left Taiwan for twenty years, yet the patients still greeted him with overwhelming gratitude.”

Olav’s remarkable acts were often talked about in the hospital. Documentary film director Qiu Cai-yan, and two former patients at Losheng Sanatorium came up with the same bit of memory when asked about Olav’s memorable deeds—the phlegm suction episode in which he used a catheter to suck the phlegm from the patient’s respiratory tract.

Director Qiu recounted yet another memorable episode. Dr. Bjørgaas once had to move the body of a patient who passed away at Pingtung Christian Hospital back to Fangliao Township. At first, he asked the husband of the deceased to flag a taxi. To ease the mind of the taxi driver, Olav held the body in his arms and chatted with the driver in the hopes that he wouldn’t notice anything amiss, but he did. Left in the dark of the night, Dr. Bjørgaas rode a motorcycle, with the body on his back, and delivered the body to her home in Fangliao Township.

Olav’s achievements earned him the title “Honorary Pingtung County Citizen.” He won the “Friend of Foreign Service Medal” and the Medical Contribution Award. His efforts are widely recognized by the locals. In the eyes of Pingtung Country aboriginals, Pingtung Christian Hospital is our hospital, and Olav our doctor. Dr. Bjørgaas was presented the Medal of St. Olav by the King of Norway for his missionary and medical contributions.

When Olav left Taiwan, he gifted us his life’s work: Pingtung Christian Hospital, Victory Home, and the Bjørgaas Social Welfare Foundation. Thanks to him, visitors to Pingtung County will not have to worry about medical services should they ever need them. They are in the best of hands.