Dog helps Chinese nurse through virus traumas
BEIJING (AP) — Zhang Dan was among the first to respond to the call for help in China’s coronavirus epicenter. The 36-year-old nurse worked through grueling days, ministering to patients who needed assistance from breathing to merely eating.
Zhang struggled – but then, a little street dog helped her through. Zhang was among 42,600 medical workers brought from around China to bolster Wuhan’s overwhelmed medical system. Hospitals were crammed with patients and field clinics thrown up to handle the overflow.
“I can’t save the world, but I can try my best with my tiny efforts to do what I can do to help,” Zhang said.
Zhang and the rest of her 133-member team had one day of orientation in early February before they were thrown into the fray.
The work soon extended to providing daily life care for the mostly elderly patients who were without family members to help them. Zhang sang to the patients to try to raise their spirits, and washed their hair and feet.
“We bought food if they needed it, soap, toothpaste a n d towels and medicine when there was a shortage,” she said.
It was all so overwhelming. And then the pooch came along. The small, yellowish street dog had caught Zhang’s eye during her walks. Always with her tail between her legs, she wolfed down the ham Zhang offered.
She named her Doudou, or “bean.”
Feeding Doudou became a welcome distraction, and a daily preoccupation.
In frigid winter temperatures, she made the dog a vest from part of her scrubs.