77-year-old doctor serves remote Chiayi village for over 20 years

77-year-old doctor serves remote Chiayi village for over 20 years

2025-07-11

Up to 70% of residents in Chiayi’s Dapu Township on the hillside of Alishan are older adults. But Dapu used to be one of the few rural towns without a single registered healthcare provider. This only changed in 2002, when Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital in nearby Dalin Township set up a medical station in Dapu and began sending their staff over. Our Weekly Feature.

Every Wednesday at 7a.m. Dr. Yeh Ming-hsien, a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, drives along the winding Provincial Highway 3 uphill to Chiayi’s Dapu Township.

Yeh Ming-hsien
TCM practitioner
It takes around one to one and a half hour to get here. It depends.

It’s not just a long, winding way up. Yeh must also stay vigilant for fallen rocks when there’s a typhoon or earthquake. But that does not stop him from making the 150km round-trip every week for more than 20 years. On many such occasions he’s been close to losing his own life.

Yeh Ming-hsien
TCM practitioner
I’ve been in three terrible accidents, but didn’t get injured. I must be blessed. I’ve crashed into the mountain, almost fell down the valley and collided with another car.

At 8 a.m., Dr. Lin Yinglong, who’s already relocated to Dapu, has already arrived at the medical station on scooter to start the day’s work.

At 9 a.m., Dr. Yeh carries supplies inside. He hasn’t changed into scrubs yet, but there are already patients waiting.

Dapu Township, located on the hillside of Alishan, covers an area of 173 square kilometers, about two-thirds that of Taipei.

It is the second largest township in Chiayi, but is the least populated. Only some 1,000 people are long-term residents.

In the 1960s, Dapu was chosen as the site for Zengwen Reservoir. What used to be rice fields are now submerged underwater. Without fertile land, the township saw a large exodus. Today between 60% to 70% percent of the population are older adults in dire need of healthcare and long-term care.

Chen Yung-ju
Dapu Township Public Health Center
The residents here are predominantly older adults, and they take care of one another. There aren’t so many young people to drive them around.

There used to be not a single physician practicing in Dapu. Whenever locals need to get treatment, they must travel downhill to Chiayi or Tainan on a two-hour drive. During an emergency, every ticking second of the journey could be a matter of life or death. In 2002, Dalin Tzu Chi Hospital in Chiayi’s Dalin Township took on the local medical station and began sending their staff over. Lin Yinglong, a 77-year-old family medicine doctor took on the role as the station’s resident physician.

Lin Yinglong
Family medicine doctor
I am the only resident physician here. It’s just me, but I have to deal with everything, be it external wounds, cardiac arrests, cerebral hemorrhage or any other condition.

The cases here aren’t just common colds. The medical station must also respond to emergencies and function as ER. The most common emergency is wild boar bites.

Two weeks ago, Mr. Chuang, a bamboo shoot farmer was bitten by a wild boar. He got five stitches on the open wound. Today he’s here to have them removed.

Dr. Lin’s notebook records all the various conditions he’s treatment over the past decade. In it, there are as many as 300 cases that required sutures. Though he’s already pushing 80, Dr. Lin still stands guard round-the-clock at the medical station.

Chen Yung-ju
Dapu Township Public Health Center
Whenever we get a call from the public seeking treatment, we’ll ask the doctor to come over as soon as possible.

Lin Yinglong
Family medicine doctor
A physician’s job is to help patients. There’s nothing grand about it. So I’ve been here almost ten years. Sometimes when I get to save a patient it really gives me a great sense of accomplishment.

Ms. Pan, a local resident, is 102 years old. Like many others in Dapu, she visits Dr. Yeh every Wednesday. Dr. Yeh performs acupuncture and tui na to relieve them of muscle pain. His patients leave his office relieved and grateful.

Ms. Pan
Patient
I feel relieved of all my pain and illnesses when I see the doctor’s smile. He’s so great. God bless him.

Yeh Ming-hsien
TCM practitioner
Anywhere reachable by car, we can also go. Anywhere that’s a drive away, we’ve been too. Even if we have to walk or climb up a mountain, we will. Back when the Aug. 8 Flood caused a road to break down and we couldn’t get here, when we had to make a detour downhill and up again, then drive over a ditch, then carry all the supplies over on a scooter with a box of medicines on our back, we’ve done that too.

Dr. Yeh does all he can to give Dapu residents the care they need, serving tirelessly and delivering supplies here week after week.

Yeh Ming-hsien
TCM practitioner
After getting here we realized that it’s just us practicing here. Other practitioners in other places don’t stay for long, some leave after just one year. This place is sticky, so we’ve been here for more than 20 years.

Chen Yin-shu, who suffers from cerebral palsy travels with her mother on an electric scooter. The mother-and-daughter duo have sought treatment from Dr. Yeh for years.

The younger Chen has had cerebral palsy since she was born. She’s now 54 and lives with her 78-year-old mother. More than 20 years ago, Dr. Yeh diagnosed the younger Chen with spinocerebellar ataxia. Since then, he’s regularly performed acupuncture on her to try slow down the degeneration.

Chen-Lin Feng-wei
Dapu resident
Dr. Yeh has taken care of us for more than 20 years.

Chen Yin-shu
Dapu resident
He gives me a lot of confidence.

Chen-Lin Feng-wei
Dapu resident
Dr. Yeh has treated her for such a long time and given her a lot of confidence. She said that if not for him, she probably can’t walk anymore.

Ms. Chen has a lot to say in appreciation of Dr. Yeh.

Chen Yin-shu
Dapu resident
He really listens to me.

Reporter
Dr. Yeh listens, is that right?

Chen-Lin Feng-wei
Dapu resident
Yes, he understands us.

Reporter
You must be happy that Dr. Yeh understands you.

Chen-Lin Feng-wei
Dapu resident
Her condition has deteriorated so that we can’t do anything. If she’s hurting, we can only let it be. When she lies down, her whole leg has to be massaged.

Families like the Chens in which older adults have to take care of each other, even with disabilities, are not uncommon in rural townships. What if the elder Chen can no longer take care of her daughter?

Chen-Lin Feng-wei
Dapu resident
I do hope she passes before me. That’s my biggest wish… Don’t sigh now, it’s not unlikely.

Reporter
Have you said anything like this to her?

Chen-Lin Feng-wei
Dapu resident
Yes, I have.

Reporter
And how do you feel?

Chen Yin-shu
Dapu resident
I don’t want to get a tracheotomy.

Although Chen sees Dr. Yeh every Wednesday morning, only now did she voice her deepest worry.

Chen Yin-shu
Dapu resident
If I have to get a nasogastric tube one day, I don’t want to.

Yeh Ming-hsien
TCM practitioner
Did you know that someone was able to make this decision alone?

Dr. Yeh consoles her while giving her a massage. The doctor-patient relationship spanning over two decades brought them close together, and Chen freely expresses herself under his care.

With hardly a break from 9 to 5, Yeh finally takes off his scrubs and puts on a jacket. He’s treated 61 patients today, but the day’s work is far from finished. He grabs his kit and drives to another patient’s home.

The patient, 86-year-old Lo A-kun seems happy that he can speak his native Hakka. Mr. Lo is now almost fully blind, but still insists on living in his home in the mountains. Yeh visits him every week. Apart from treating the patient, he also inspects the room for safety hazards.

Yeh Ming-hsien
TCM practitioner
The shower floor. We’re arranging for someone to put on handrails or anything of the sort. He might slip and hurt himself. Also guardrails that prevent him from losing his footing. We arrange for all that.

Although there’s already a medical team in Dapu, it’s still inaccessible for older adults with reduced mobility or bedridden. That’s why they need in-home care.

Yeh Ming-hsien
TCM practitioner
It takes them seven hours a visit. Starting from getting on the ambulance then heading to the clinic, and then they’ll have to wait for their turn. Then it’s the trip back. That’s seven hours, it’s really burdensome.

From day to night, these doctors provide care to an underserved community, bringing hope to a remote township.

But what happens after they retire? In a superaged society, there’s bound to be a growing demand for healthcare.

Lin Yinglong
Family medicine doctor
I’ve come to realize that being able to serve is what brings you happiness in your lifetime.

Yeh Ming-hsien
TCM practitioner
The greatest thing about being in healthcare is to be a participant in everyone’s journey of life. It’s great to be able to serve.

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