While most Beijing citizens are relaxing at home during the
five-day May Day holiday, nurse Zhang Jing is saving patients'
lives in the quarantine wards in Beijing's No.402 hospital at the
forefront of the fight against SARS.
"I'm too busy to remember it's May Day," said charge nurse Zhang
Jing. During the past two weeks, Zhang and her 112 colleagues have
been working in the quarantine wards for SARS patients day and
night.
Zhang's husband didn't call her on May 1. "I guess he forgot it
too," she said. Zhang said she told her husband not to call her too
often because she was afraid she wouldn't have time to answer.
"Besides, the line is always busy with calls from patients'
relatives," she said.
The No. 402 hospital, which does not specialize in infectious
diseases, has just been refurbished to receive SARS patients.
Medical workers from Jishuitan Hospital, Peking Union Medical
College Hospital and Railway Hospital came to treat the SARS
patients.
"The distance between the SARS patients and us is close to zero,"
Zhang's colleague, Wang Xue said. Wang, 20, became a nurse last
year and is still an intern. "I know it's dangerous, but I'm not
scared anymore."
"My parents and friends all called me and told me to be careful,"
Wang said. She admitted she was a little bit homesick sometimes,
but not during work.
Her shift is from 3:00 am to 8:00 am, and during the five hours,
she and another nurse look after 19 patients.
Her holiday in the quarantine wards is nothing like any holiday
Wang has ever had.
Wang said she used to go shopping with friends during holidays or
go to amusement parks.
Now all she and her colleagues can do is stay in their dormitories
watching TV or reading newspapers and magazines.
"It is boring but it is my job," she said.
Compared with Wang, nurse Zhang Yi seemed to be happier.
"My daughter called me on May 1. She told me to be careful and come
back home soon."
Last night, Zhang didn't rest even for a minute since one of her
patients, a 50-year-old woman with a mental disability, refused to
sleep and kept on sitting up in bed.
"We had to stay beside her all night to prevent her from falling
down on the floor."
Zhang said her family used to travel in the holidays, but now her
husband, her daughter and she celebrated in three different
places.
Zhang's husband has been on a business trip outside Beijing and her
daughter is now taken care of by her neighbor. "My neighbor told me
not to worry about my child and I really feel grateful for what
they have done."
Like nurse Zhang Yi, Zhang Jing also misses her 10-year-old
son.
"Even though I couldn't spend the holiday with my husband and my
son, I don't feel sad," said Zhang Jing, "because I know they are
safe at home".
(China Daily May 3, 2003)