Bend Forward, Stand Tall

There is a particular kind of quiet that comes over a line of children who have taken their shoes off. On the morning of Thursday, September 24, the walkway outside the health center at Qiaotou filled up with it. The school’s health center had arranged this year’s checkup for grades one and four, and a screening team from the Chang Tien-chang Clinic had come into school for the morning.

一排孩子把鞋子脫下來排好隊的時候，會有一種特別的安靜。9 月 24 日（四）上午，橋頭國小健康中心外的走廊就是這樣。健康中心辦理本學年一年級及四年級健康檢查，張天長診所的健檢團隊到校服務，陪伴孩子完成各項檢查。

Outside, the children followed the doctor’s demonstration one movement at a time — standing on one leg with both arms out, then bending forward with arms hanging down while a hand went carefully down each back. It takes only a few seconds per child, and it is one of the quietest and most useful things a school morning can contain: the earlier a growing spine is looked at, the easier anything is to put right.

在走廊上，孩子跟著醫師的示範一個動作一個動作做——先單腳站立、雙手平伸，再彎腰向前、雙手自然垂下，讓醫師的手沿著背脊仔細看過一遍。每個孩子只要幾秒鐘，卻是一整個早上最安靜也最有用的事：正在長大的脊椎愈早看過，之後要調整就愈容易。

Inside the health center it was the same thing at a slower pace. Each child came in holding a yellow record card, sat down in front of the doctor, and let a small light do its work while a nurse wrote down what was found. Nobody rushed anybody. The children behind waited their turn, cards in hand, and watched.

健康中心裡面是同一件事，只是步調更慢一點。孩子拿著自己那張黃色的紀錄卡走進來，在醫師面前坐好，讓那支小燈慢慢看過，護理師在旁邊一項一項記下來。沒有人被催。後面排隊的孩子拿著卡片，站在旁邊看著前面的同學，等自己的那一輪。

A morning like this only runs smoothly because a lot of people quietly make it so. Thank you to the screening team from the Chang Tien-chang Clinic, and to the class teachers, the section chief and the parent volunteers who kept the lines moving, the shoes paired up and the record cards in the right hands — one more layer of care around every child who is still growing. 🌱

這樣的一個早上能夠順順利利，是因為有很多人默默把它撐起來。感謝張天長診所健檢團隊到校服務，也感謝班級導師、志豪組長及志工媽媽們的熱心協助——幫忙排隊、幫忙把鞋子擺好、幫忙讓每一張紀錄卡回到對的手上，讓健康檢查活動順利完成，為孩子成長多一分守護！🌱