"Don't worry, Uncle Luo will treat you." One morning in March, a mother said to her 8-year-old daughter at Shenzhen Children's Hospital. The "Uncle Luo" they mentioned was David P. Roye, Jr, one of the top pediatric orthopaedic surgeons in the United States. He and his colleagues were visiting the girl in her hospital room, preparing for an operation in the afternoon.
"Moving my clinical life to Guangzhou, China is a right decision." Since his first visit to China in 1997, Dr. David Roye, an emeritus professor in the Department of Medicine at Columbia University, has performed charity operations for over 500 Chinese children. In the last five years, he has operated on numerous children at Shenzhen Children's Hospital. Since retiring from a children's hospital in New York in 2020, Dr. David Roye has been living in Guangzhou and has been employed as a medical expert by Shenzhen Children's Hospital in May 2021.
In March 2023, he was awarded the Guangdong Friendship Award, an honorary award established by the Guangdong government to recognize foreigners who have made outstanding contributions to Guangdong's economic and social development and foreign relations. Dr. David Roye said he would like to contribute more to the medical development of Guangdong and China at large.
His interest in China dates back to his youth - when studying at the University of Oklahoma, he spent a year learning Chinese history.
Since 1997, David has visited China nearly 100 times and, with his colleagues at the Children of China Pediatrics Foundation (CCPF), has operated on over 500 underprivileged Chinese children with disabilities. Over the past two decades, he has witnessed improvements in medical conditions in China, and thinks that "it almost happens in an instant". He also noted the tremendous improvement in the ability of his Chinese colleagues to handle complex surgeries. David has been not only a witness to China's medical development but also a participant.
"As a 76-year-old person, I'm more concerned with impacting the world I work in than with my career."
According to David, it is his responsibility to help people who have no access to quality medical services, and he feels happy to change the fate of many children through surgery. In the Belt and Road Initiative , in addition to building infrastructure such as electricity networks and roads, China has provided funds to construct hospitals, train doctors, and treat children. "I think this is very important work, and I support it wholeheartedly."
For more than a decade, David, who started working in Guangdong and then settled here, has been impressed by its innovation, friendliness, and gourmet. Having witnessed the dramatic changes in the province, David believes that Guangdong, with its focus on research and development, research and education, will enjoy an even brighter future.
Reporter: Gao Han, Tan Zheng
Intern: Lin Junxin
Translated by Liu Jiahui
“广东省友谊奖”获得者骆德唯：为500多名中国儿童做慈善手术 | 外眼看广东
“相信爷爷会帮我们（把病）治好的。”3月的一个上午，在深圳市儿童医院，一位母亲对8岁的女儿这样说道。她们提到的“爷爷”，是曾获评美国顶尖儿童骨科医生的骆德唯（David P. Roye, Jr）。他和同事正在病房看望小女孩，为下午的手术做最后的准备。
“来到中国、来到广东，我认为我做了正确的决定。”自1997年首次来华至今，哥伦比亚大学医学院终身名誉教授骆德唯已为500多名中国儿童做过慈善手术，近5年更是多次在深圳市儿童医院开展慈善手术。2020年，骆德唯从纽约的一所儿童医院退休后一直在广州生活，2021年5月签约深圳市儿童医院。
2023年3月，骆德唯获颁“广东省友谊奖”，这是广东省政府为表彰在广东经济社会发展和对外交往中作出突出贡献的外籍人士而设立的荣誉奖项。骆德唯说，他还想为广东乃至中国的医疗发展贡献更多力量。
骆德唯对中国的兴趣由来已久。早在俄克拉荷马大学读本科时，他就曾用一年时间修读中国历史。
自1997年起，骆德唯已到访中国近百次，和中国儿童医疗基金会的同事们累计为500多名中国贫困残障儿童完成慈善手术。20多年间，他见证着中国医疗条件不断改善，“仿佛就发生在一瞬间”。骆德唯还注意到，中国同事应对复杂手术的能力有了巨大的进步。他不仅是中国医疗事业发展的见证者，也是参与者。
“我已经76岁了，与我个人的事业相比，我更关注如何影响我所工作的这个世界。”
骆德唯表示，为无法得到优质医疗服务的人提供帮助是自己的责任，通过手术帮助更多孩子改变命运，让他觉得非常幸福。在“一带一路”倡议中，中国除了援建电力、公路等基础设施外，还提供资金兴建医院、培训医生、治疗病童。“我认为这是非常重要的工作，我全心全意地支持。”
十多年来，从工作到定居，广东的创新、友善、美食都令骆德唯印象深刻。见证了广东翻天覆地的变化，骆德唯相信，着眼于研发、研究和教育的广东，还将创造更为明亮的未来。
文、图、视频 | 羊城晚报全媒体记者 高焓 谭铮 实习生 林浚昕
翻译 |刘佳慧
