Passing the Torch

Dr. Lin Guohui is the director of Rehabilitation Department of Guangzhou Disabled Rehabilitation Centre, and registered occupational therapist in Hong Kong. He graduated from WHO rehabilitation therapy course in Wuhan in 1992, and when Bei Laoshi (Sheila Purves) was in Hefei, Anhui for WHO therapy course in 1993, he started to be a volunteer of HKSR as he attended the course in Wuhan and has fairly good English level that made him able to translate the lectures given by many foreign experts. Later he started to facilitate in different courses. He also helped with project evaluation and textbook composing in recent years.

Dr. Lin said he agreed very much to HKSR’s work ethic which was similar to his own understanding of rehabilitation. HKSR has been giving lots of support to mainland China. As long as HKSR invited, Dr. Lin would always try to help, and Guangzhou Disabled Rehabilitation Centre was also supportive.

Why choosing rehabilitation?

Dr. Lin said Sheila was his first teacher in rehabilitation. He just graduated from the medical university when Sheila organised the amonth-long occupational therapy and rehabilitation consultation training workshop in Guangzhou Zhongshan Hospital in the 1980s. It was his first time participating in such a professional training that taught him about occupational therapy, and since then he grew his interest in rehabilitation.

Dr. Lin went back to his hospital when the training workshop was over. He drew out the measurements of a occupational therapy room based on what he learnt and asked the carpenter to help build it in the hospital. He then started rehabilitation work there.

An impressive experience:

I have had many experience when I went to different places giving lectures, people greeted me and told me they attended my lectures before which were very helpful and could be used for their clients. I thought they were just being polite until I went to a dinner with Sheila once. I refused to drink and an official said, ‘How much you can do depends on how much you can drink.’ Sheila heard it and said,’ This is not right.’ From then I realised what I have been doing might be small, but as I was told by so many people that they benefited from my teaching, I believe what I do is influential even though I do not drink much. This incidence made me more certain of the work I am doing.

Dr. Lin should be a performer, as he would wake up as soon as he steps onto the lecture stage no matter how tired he is – absolutely natural high. We saw Dr. Lin at a recent lecture, he answered questions one by one raised by his students passionately and freely, which showed how much he loves teaching and hopes to promote the development of occupational therapy in mainland China.

If we should count every ten years as an era, it is  already the third generation from Sheila to Lin Guohui, and the students＇are also from born in 1960s to 1990s. The torch will be passed on. Would you be part of it and made the flame burn forever?