Medical staff struggle to help traumatized Yeonpyeong islanders

North Korea’s shelling of Yeonpyeongdo last year left its residents shocked and in fear. But the four doctors and two nurses at the public health care center on the island have had no time to give in to anxiety.

Lim Yeon-jeong, an administrative nurse at the center, and her colleague Jung Yi-sun were at the center when the shelling broke out. Lim and a doctor were looking after a patient who needed stitching. It was just Jung’s second month into her work on the island. Neither had expected anything like the events of Nov. 23.

Not only had they to pull themselves together but they had to take care of the island’s residents who were anxious or injured.

“Yes, I was terrified. But I thought I had to stay strong,” Jung said.

The government has not provided the nurses with any treatment for post traumatic stress disorder. Instead the center’s staff take care of the patients, many of whom say they suffer from PTSD.

“I was afraid that they might quit,” said Shim Jae-bong, head of the public health care center, recalling the attack.

“When I arrived at the island by a medical ship, the two were shivering and couldn’t move a foot. If they wanted to quit I thought I had to accept them. But instead, they came back and fought their fears,” he added.

Lim admitted that the decision wasn’t easy.

“I had a calling,” she said. Jung still hears the shelling and gets scared sometimes while working at the center.

For four the doctors at the center, who arrived after the attack, such threats are something they had time to prepare for.

They were dispatched to the island in April as part of their two-year mandatory military draft.

Ph.D holder Kim Nam-il directs dentist Lee Jae-ho, Oriental medical doctor Kwon Chan and general practitioner Park Hoon.

Lee volunteered to come to Yeonpyeong after the shelling.

“I thought North Korea wouldn’t hit the same place twice,” he joked.

Park said his family and friends were worried at first.

“But my girlfriend and others have been here several times and said they were safe. It’s nicer than they have thought,” he said.

They deal with Yeonpyeong residents around the clock. From 4 a.m., when people go out for fishing till late at night when drunken people are involved in brawls, the doorway of the center is always crowded.

“We are paying extra attention to soothing their anxiety as part of the PTSD treatment,” Kim said.

“We are sparing more time listening to them and looking into the detail. There isn’t more we can do, but we are happy to help,” he said.

“By far people have been nice and cooperative and we are trying to make the most use of what we have here,” he said.

By Bae Ji-sook (baejisook@heraldcorp.com)