Tiny scrip of Japanese script thrills the ill more than a bit

The patients will often save their bandages, keeping the papery strips of adhesive like they held some sort of healing power or the kindness of someone who was cheering for their recovery.

James Trimble, 62, has worked at Kuakini Medical Center for 29 years, first as a floor nurse and then, for the past 20 years, as an IV tech, setting intravenous lines in the blood vessels of patients, many of whom are elderly.

"I try to do my best to relax them and make the experience easier," he said. "It’s never pleasant getting poked."

Trimble, who grew up in Missouri, developed an interest in the Japanese language and, over the years, has become fluent while studying at Leeward Community College, UH-Manoa, Farrington adult education classes and through a private tutor. His knowledge of the language comes in handy at Kuakini, a hospital founded more than 100 years ago as the Japanese Charity Hospital to care for Japanese immigrants in Hawaii. Though the 250-bed acute care facility serves everyone, many of the patients are elderly and many speak Japanese.

But for all the patients he sees, regardless of the language they speak — or even if they are able to speak — Trimble writes a kanji, a Japanese character, along with the required notation of date, time and the size of catheter on the bandage.

"I always write the same thing. It means ‘good luck’ or ‘good fortune,’" he said.

Trimble doesn’t remember when he started adding the kanji, he’s been doing it for so long.

"It just seemed like a good thing to do," he said. "I feel like maybe I’m helping them."

He usually strikes up conversations with patients, perhaps talking about what they might be watching on TV — anything to make them relax a little. When a patient is relaxed, it makes his job easier. He adds the kanji at the end, as he’s taping down the IV.

Jean Fong went to visit a family member at Kuakini recently and saw the kanji written on the bandage. She thought it was such a wonderful thing, this small expression of hope and good will that came with an otherwise routine procedure. She wrote to the newspaper and sent along a photo of the kanji.

"I don’t know what it means but understand it is a blessing," Fong wrote. "I was sincerely moved by this and felt compelled to send you this shot."

Patients and their family members will thank Trimble, and sometimes he’ll get letters from people expressing their gratitude for his compassion and encouragement. And many people over the years have carefully peeled off the bandage when their treatment has ended. They save the scrap of medical tape to remind them that when they were sick, someone treating them was really wishing them well and not just mechanically doing a job.

Lee Cataluna can be reached at lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.