Visiting the Sick

 

            Dmitry sat in silence wondering about the purpose of life and how he could help those who were suffering, who were ill, who were in pain and bedridden. Suddenly an idea popped into his head about how everyone should use their time, use their extra money, and take care of those who are alone, who are lonely, and have no one to care for them or protect them. “You know, I should start visiting hospitals and retirement homes and begin asking about anyone who is alone, who is struggling with sickness, pain, or overwhelming debt from medical treatment,” he thought.

               He stood up from his prostrate position on his couch, walked to his prayer corner and began to immerse himself in deep, thoughtful prayer, begging God to give him wisdom and find others who could assist him in this effort to help others. After sending one email to about twenty people who he knew had extra money and would be interested in doing good, helping others, and providing love and support. In the email he carefully articulated his idea about visiting the sick, and paying medical bills for those who were drowning in debt.

               Two hours passed and he received fifteen positive responses. He replied to each one with the explanation that he would be placing many phone calls to hospitals and retirement homes. Before the day came to an end, he called the three hospitals that were in the city, he called twelve different retirement homes, and received positive feedback from those with whom he spoke.

               Now that darkness had settled on the city, he sent another email to those who positively responded, informing them of the great success he achieved in contacting the hospitals and retirement homes. In the email, he requested that everyone who was interested in helping those in need should meet and discuss the details of how to bring this idea to a successful end. Several dates were suggested in the responses he received, he then created another email with all suggested dates and requested that everyone communicate which days and times worked best for them to meet.

               By the end of the next day, he organized and communicated the day and time that worked best for most of his respondents. Three more days passed and they all met at a local restaurant to work through the details of his act of love and compassion on those who were ill, who were suffering, and who needed help and connection. Their meeting came to an end, while everyone enjoyed eating pie and drinking coffee. Dmitry shared that he could create another email with all of the details for how they would proceed with this work.

               One full day passed and he carefully crafted and sent the promised email. An hour later, he traveled to his bank, opened a new savings account, to then return home and share the details of how those who agreed to support this effort could send money to help those in need. Two more days passed and he continually checked the balance of the new savings account to see that it was growing at a wonderful rate. He then sent another email, thanking everyone for their generosity and that a few teams of people would need to be created to visit those who were sick and suffering.

               Dmitry spent the next day creating several teams of people, based on their locations, and contact information for each hospital and retirement home, so that communication could be solid and direct. When the list was organized and articulate, he sent out another email, informing everyone about with whom they would be working and which locations they would visit. It was the responsibility of someone on each team to schedule visit days and times at each location.

               Three teams were created with one hospital and four retirement homes for each team to contact and visit. In the last email he sent out, he requested that each team leader communicate to him, when they would begin visiting those who were sick, those who were in need of financial support, and those who were lonely. Another full day passed, and he received email responses from each team, informing him of their schedules and their plans for visiting and helping as many people as they could.

               Two full weeks passed and he remained in contact with each team to learn that they had successful met, encouraged, and socially supported those in the hospital and in the retirement homes. Now that great success had been achieved, Dmitry began a routine of visiting each hospital, each retirement home, and offering the pay the medical bills of those who were in dire need of help. In each location, he wrote out a check to cover their needs, and he was absolutely thrilled that he had devised this plan to help those in need.

               At each location, he requested with the financial department that he and his team remained anonymous, because he didn’t want to draw attention to himself or them for their willingness to do what was right and loving for those who needed help. Over the next few days, he continued to watch the new savings account and was thrilled to see that the checks he had been writing had been withdrawn.

               As the dollar amount of the savings account slowly declined toward zero, he sent out another email to those who had been financially supporting this effort, requesting more financial support so they could continue helping more people. Over the next few days, he watched as the amount of money in the savings account grow, giving him the opportunity to revisit the hospitals and retirement homes, to provide more funds for those in need.

               As Dmitry sat eating his dinner, he turned on the news and listened to a report about an anonymous organization that was helping those who were ill, who were struggling with medical bills, and who were suffering from loneliness. The news reporter praised this mysterious, anonymous organization for the good they were doing and suggested that more people needed to philanthropic work like this. When the news report came to an end, Dmitry sent out another email to those who had been so generous in their financial support, informing them of the exposure that was taking place because of their financial support.

               Three days later, Dmitry revisited the hospitals and the retirement homes to learn that their financial support and social interaction was creating a great example all across the city. Each location reported that other people and other groups were beginning to imitate their financial support and social interaction. He thanked each person at each location for communicating that their work was being imitated by others, shook hands, and began his drive home. He stopped at a local coffee kiosk, bought himself a large cappuccino and returned home.

               When he settled down in front of his laptop, he sent another email to everyone who had been supporting this effort, that other people and other organizations were imitating their financial support and social support.

               “Oof,” Dmitry said to himself, “I forgot about providing social contact with the elderly who are trapped at home and bedridden. Time to make a few phone calls.” He began a thorough search of the internet for social outreach organizations. After calling four different organizations, he finally convinced one of them that he and his organization were interested in visiting the elderly in their homes to provide friendly interaction and emotional support. He then set up a time to visit their office and introduce himself and the others who were working with him.

               The next afternoon he was thoroughly pleased with the successful interaction with the social outreach organization. He gave them his email address and requested that they contact the elderly who were interested in receiving social interaction and emotional support, asking as well that they provide contact information for those interested in visiting with them.

               The next afternoon he received a long list of names and phone numbers. He divided the list into three lists and sent two of them off to the other teams with whom he was working. The next two weeks were filled with many visits to most of those on the lists, which resulted in great joy and happiness for the kind interaction that Dmitry and his people provided to the lonely and elderly. When he returned home after his last visit, he sent out an email to discuss the success of their visiting the elderly and lonely, he communicated that he could see a light return to their eyes, he could see joy on their faces and could hear thankfulness in their voices.