Heritage Snapshot: Part 224 Mr. and Mrs. Rosenquist

LOMA LINDA>> Dr. Robert C. Rosenquist, an internist and endocrinologist at Loma Linda University Medical Center, and his wife, Betty, a registered nurse, were among the first from Loma Linda to go to Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital in China. Their first visit lasted a year and ended just before the 400-bed hospital opened May 2, 1994. The hospital now has more than 1,200 beds. Eventually, they made two, three-month visits a year for about 10 years. His first responsibility was to teach interns and resident physicians, who were recent graduates, American-style care and how they were expected to relate to their patients. A few older physicians were delighted to join the classes. Some of the young doctors and nurses had already been to Loma Linda and were already knowledgeable. Mrs. Rosenquist’s main responsibility was teaching English. She taught everybody from the housekeepers to physicians and nurses. When she returned one time, a young man approached her and said, “Mrs. Rosenquist, I went over to the university to take an English class in the summer when you were gone. I wanted to have you so proud of me that I knew so much. But they don’t even know how to teach over there. They don’t teach it like you do. They stand up there and talk the whole time. We don’t get to practice it.” In Betty’s classes, everyone practiced and had to pronounce the words correctly. Her English classes lasted all day and was a good way for her to get acquainted with the people. She found that teachers there had just as much respect as medical personnel. “If you are a teacher, you are important,” she said. Because most homes, at least at that time, did not have ovens, she announced to the administrators that she needed an oven. Only bakeries had ovens. The homes had burners in order to stir-fry. She then offered cookies to anybody who came to the door on errands. She always had a bunch of cookies on the table and she sent cookies around campus. Most were plain sugar cookies with nuts, but some had raisins and some had chocolate chips. After they provided her with an oven, they installed ovens in all of the foreigner’s residences. Because most of the people did not have ovens, they loved her cookies and considered them to be a real treat. Betty found the importance of treating people as a friend and letting them know how much she appreciated them. She felt blessed to have had much basic contact with the people. “It was a privilege,” she said. A visitor today notices that many of the personnel at Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital have American names: Larry, Elaine, Sherry, Jenny, Annie, etc. Betty Rosenquist is the one who started that and at their insistence. “They wanted that very badly,” she said. “I didn’t say, ‘Your name is,’” To answer their requests, she wrote down all the names she could think of including the names of relatives and former classmates. Then she crossed off each name when it was chosen. She would let the Chinese choose from two or three names. Because they each had a choice, it worked out very nicely. Later, to help, her daughter, Dianne Rice, also a registered nurse, sent her a book of baby names. When Dianne came for a visit, and people learned that she was Betty’s daughter, they would say, “She gave me my name.” It was said with such appreciation, “It was almost like she had anointed them,” Dianne said. According to Betty Rosenquist, when Dr. Gordon Hadley, the second president of Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital, wanted something done, staff did it partly because it was their job, but partly to make Hadley happy. “They loved him," she said. "They loved his family. We felt blessed to be there at a time when he was there."