Editor's note: Since the outbreak of Covid-19, students and former students of the Open University of China (OUC) have been courageously taking up their responsibilities and fighting the disease in accordance with local policies.
A number of them have stood out for their bravery and devotion to duty; their actions have cast the OUC student body as a whole in a favourable light, and the OUC recently named 107 of them “OUC Advanced Individuals Fighting Covid-19”. The OUC news portal will share their stories in order to promote their spirit of courage and public service, hold them up as models, and enhance cohesion among students as progress toward defeating the disease advances.
About Lin Xu:
Lin Xu is a nurse at the Beijing Stomatological Hospital affiliated to Capital Medical University. She majored in Nursing (junior college) at the OUC’s Beijing Branch from September 2016 to July 2019, and applied for admission to the undergraduate Nursing programme at the same university in September 2019.
With the outbreak of Covid-19, and immediately after the hospital issued a notice asking for front-line support, I signed up as a volunteer, believing, as a medical worker, that it was my duty to take up this challenge bravely.
On 19 March 2020, our team was driven to Beijing Xiaotangshan Hospital, the beginning of a nearly one-month struggle against the disease.
After a short training, we were given protective clothing and assigned to the isolation wards. As outpatient nurses, we were unfamiliar with this environment at first, but soon became adept at drawing blood, collecting throat swabs, keeping sputum specimens, checking for H1N1 flu, nursing Covid-19 patients, and other tasks.
An epidemic follows its own course, and requires persistent care of the sick. I firmly believe we can win this battle, and that striving to do so is our responsibility. Like all medical staff, I followed orders, remained at my post, cared little about compensation, and was not even afraid of death. I fought on the front line to protect the people and help keep society stable.
I remember once, on the night shift, being informed that a mother and son had been transferred to our hospital by ambulance. We arranged a double room for them, but even with that, the fact that it was night, and the strangeness of the environment, gave them considerable anxiety
When it came to taking blood and doing a throat swab, the child refused to cooperate. In order to help relieve his anxiety, we applied for the help of a mental-health consultant, and after considerable effort were finally able to collect the specimens we needed.
After two days, the tests came back negative. They were very excited to be discharged; we could see through the monitoring window the child happily jumping onto his mother, and the two hugging each other tightly. We were deeply moved by their joy.
Before they left, we received a letter of thanks from them, and I felt strongly that we had shared a special experience. The child was bouncing with a happy smile as they departed, and I was delighted to feel that all my efforts had been worthwhile.
By OUC News Network