Chin, son of Vice President Elias Camsek Chin is now studying medicine at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii.
The youngest among the two siblings, Nathan Chin, in his four weeks of interacting with the doctors, nurses and patients, had learned that doctors and nurses at the National Belau hospital are over worked.In an interview with him yesterday, few hours before he left for the opening of classes next week, he said that doctors and nurses here sacrifice a lot of their time just to help the community.“They sacrificed their weekends, their time, just to accommodate the patients. They have to work long hours of shifts each day and each night because there’s not enough doctors and nurses. We’re short of doctors, nurses and money so they worked too hard and a lot of people don’t realize that,”Chin said.“That is also one of the reason why I wanted to become a doctor to help the community,”he added.“One good thing about Palau is we have this opportunity to go out and get our education outside. But we should come back and practice what we have learned. That’s what my father has always stressed to me, to get my education outside and come back here to help the community,”he said.He said he learned a lot during his interactions with the dortors and nurses and patients.“The doctors and nurses, they were supportive and very helpful to me. I’ve been to OR, ER, Pediatric, Behavioral Health and OB-Gyne for four weeks and I learned a lot of things. It was also fun working with them and interacting with the patients,”he said.He also spent two weeks of interactions with the doctors in Taiwan’s hospital.He said the activity was part of their school’s summer program.“Some went to the Philippines, to Japan and to US mainland but I chose Palau because I want to see how they practice medicine here and also to help my dad with his campaign,”he said.Nathan said he is proud of his father and he believes in him, especially in his vision for Palau.“He is a very honest man and he is an action man. If he says he will do it, he is going to do it,”he said.“My message for him is to keep on working hard,”he added.He said taking up medicine is the hardest thing that he ever done in his life and it is hard to be away from home, and from family but he is coping well because he wants his family to be proud of him someday.He said he is also willing to assist young individuals who are interested in medicine.“I cant do very much in terms of providing a service because I’m not a doctor yet but I can help them if they want information about medicine if they want to learn about it or how to get into medicine, I think I can help them in that or what organizations they would like to join in, I can assist them in that. I’m willing to volunteer my time and assist them in that,”he said.Nathan Chin graduated from Maris Stella School in 1998 and at the Mid Pacific Institute in Hawaii in 2002.
