新华社报道我院盘光嫒护长1954年前往湖北参与医疗救援的故事（英文版）
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-05/12/c_139051455.htm

NANNING, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Pan Guangyuan, 88, provided medical assistance as a nurse 66 years ago to the flood-hit Hubei Province where 24-year-old nurse Zhu Jiayu rushed to aid this year as the province was stricken hard by the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Pan and Zhu, representing two generations of nurses in China, both made a resolute choice to help treat those in need in the disaster-affected areas in their 20s.

MEDICAL ASSISTANCE IN DECADES AGO

A devastating flood of the Yangtze River occurred in the summer of 1954, and Hubei Province was one of the hardest-hit areas where millions of local residents become destitute and homeless.

Lacking medics, many people who had gotten sick as a result of the flood failed to receive treatment on time and eventually died as their mild illnesses developed into severe ones.

Pan, a 22-year-old nurse then, together with 29 fellow colleagues from three different cities of southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, left the city of Guilin and started their five-month medical aid in Hubei province.

"Houses and furniture floated everywhere alongside the Yangtze River. There were basically no houses except those in mountains or higher places. Food and housing were all in short supply," recorded a work summary of Pan's medical team stored in the archives of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Pan began her medical assistance work at a mountainous area in Honghu County, 200 km away from the provincial capital city of Wuhan. "The time I spent there was the toughest in my life," recalled the 88-year-old.

Back then, the 10-member medical team had at most 400 outpatients per day, and they also had to rush to rescue those who were seriously ill.

The three young female members of the team undertook the work as midwives. "You are too young to help me deliver the baby," a woman yelled at Pan as local people believed that only women who had given birth could be qualified to do the work, she remembered.

With patience and professional medical knowledge, the medical team convinced the parturient and won her trust. Pan said that when the baby was born, the villagers boiled brown sugar water and eggs for them to show gratitude, "Those things were precious at that time and we sent them to the parturient."

SAME CHOICE OF YOUNG NURSE

Disaster shows no mercy yet love flows. Pan's effort was followed by young nurses like Zhu.

Zhu, a nurse with the respiratory department of the Maternal and Child Health Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, left home on Feb. 4 to aid Wuhan, which was once the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in China.

Zhu worked at a makeshift hospital in Wuhan where patients were isolated from their families. Fighting against the frustrating diseases, Zhu cheered the patients up with her painting works.

"We could hardly recognize each other in the protective gear, let alone the patients," said Pan Jing, Zhu's colleague at the makeshift hospital. Instead of writing their names on their protective suits, Zhu painted different cartoon characters like SpongeBob, Peppa Pig and the Powerpuff Girls on them.

Pan Jing still well remembered the moments when a patient called, "Powerpuff girl, time to measure my blood glucose." "It ties us together," said Pan.

Their selfless work was cherished by the traumatized city. Zhu recorded several warm moments with cartoons during her stay at Wuhan.

One of Zhu's cartoon work shows a moment on a shuttle bus when she went to the hospital for examination because of a cold and fever. The bus driver surnamed Yang noticed her depression and panic.

"Yang comforted me and asked me if I wanted to have some chili sauce, which really touched me," she said.

Zhu was among the 962 medics from Guangxi who volunteered to support Hubei Province to fight against COVID-19.

According to the National Health Commission, among the 42,600 medical workers dispatched to support the virus-hit Hubei Province, about 28,600 are nurses, accounting for almost 70 percent of the total.

"Going to Wuhan was my own choice. I will go wherever needs me most," said Zhu. Enditem