Focolare Movement

Korea: The Mystery of Life

Nov 19, 2014

A nurse working in geriatrics shares her experiences with patients who have lost the sense of meaning in their lives

geriatric_nursingCielo Lee, Young-Hee is a visiting nurse for a hospital in Seoul (Korea). The percentage of suicides among people over 80 is the highest in the world. “After reading some statistics, I began working in prevention, since 80% of my patients are over 80.” Following one negative experience with a deeply depressed patient, Cielo Lee decided to organise a course on the prevention of suicide, for 100 geriatric workers and 30 parish volunteers. “While visiting 40 patients each week with one of my colleagues we evaluated their mood and state of mind according to national health standards. Based on those results we decided to make twice-a-week visits to the 10 patients who were most at risk.” The Gatekeeper Project is a public service promoted by the government in Seoul. It operates in all the quarters of the capital for the prevention of suicides, and in close collaboration with local health services. “In this project,” Cielo Lee explains, “we also train the elderly as gate-keepers. These same-age men and women accompany the nurses visiting patients and offer helpful health advice.” Because of my desire to protect the life of even just one person, at work I shared my intentions with a religious sister, the head nurse. Then sixty of my nurse colleagues decided to attend the suicide prevention training.” One patient has suffered with a serious illness for 10 years: “When I went to his home,” she says “before going in I would pray, and I tried to listen deeply to everything he had to say. For a while now, this patient has returned to prayer and is becoming more stable.” A friend was suffering from insomnia after the death of her eldest son. She was only able to sleep with the help of sedatives. But after attending the course she has begun to care for an elderly neighbour with no family. Now she is able to sleep without the help of medication, and she is grateful that she can do something for other people. “One day the phone rang,” Cielo Lee recounts. “It was the mental health centre that I work with. The person from the centre told me that the Mayor of Seoul would be giving a prize to one person from each quarter and that I had been unanimously chosen! The next day I received a additional prize from the director of the hospital.” Members from the Focolare Movement in Seoul who attended the course wrote that it was “a precious opportunity for deepening our awareness of the mystery of life, and for going towards the existential peripheries.”

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Subscribe to Newsletter

Thought of the day

Related post

The Cross, a Treasure Chest of Communion

The Cross, a Treasure Chest of Communion

Jesus’ death on the cross reveals a man so deeply rooted in a relationship with the Father that he is able to trust Him completely, up to the very end. And it is for this reason that Calvary becomes the precious vessel in which all of God’s love for us is gathered. Igino Giordani’s words invite us to make room for silence and attentive listening, so that we can begin this path of contemplation, redemption, and communion with God and with one another.

Every day a Holy Thursday

Every day a Holy Thursday

During Holy Week 2026, we want to offer an excerpt from Chiara Lubich’s diary written on Holy Thursday, 11 April 1968.

The Road of Hope

The Road of Hope

50 years after the publication of Card.François-Xavier Nguyễn Vân Thuân’s most famous book, an event was held in the Lateran Palace in Rome, streamed in seven languages. A new biography of the well-known witness of hope was also launched.