Rescue & Aid
Nothing satisfies like taste of home
By Huang Zhiling (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-20 07:58
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Every morning, Zhao Rong, a nurse in the department of nutrition, visits every Qinghai survivor in the hospital.
"My department offers them what they want to eat, such as cake and highland barley," she said.
Three other hospitals in Sichuan are also treating people injured in the earthquake.
"The four hospitals have nearly 300 patients from Qinghai," said Liang Zhi, an official with the Sichuan provincial department of health.
As most of the survivors are Tibetan, the hospitals have prepared beef and mutton for their lunch and supper, said Du Bo, spokesman of the Sichuan provincial department of health.
Along with free treatment, the quake victims and any relatives who accompany them get free food.
The Huaxi Hospital of Sichuan University has paid for hotels for all relatives of the injured, said Liao Zhilin, chief of the hospital's publicity department.
Yet one problem the injured from Yushu face as they recover in Chengdu is adapting to the low-altitude climate in the city. Chengdu is only 550 meters above sea level while Yushu lies about 4,000 meters above sea level.
Many of the injured in the Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital have difficulty breathing and the hospital has provided oxygen facilities for every patient, according to Wen Dacui, a nurse with the hospital's department of surgery.
She said nurses clean the injured from head to foot every day, washing their hair, cleansing their bodies and washing their feet.
Many women patients have long hair and hate having it cut because of religious beliefs, so nurses have to wash it every day, she said.
Another problem is most of the injured are Tibetan and medics have difficulties talking with them.
Chengdu-based Southwest University of Nationalities sent about 100 Tibetan student volunteers to each of the three hospitals.
"Medics are grateful to the volunteers who work around the clock. Without them, it would be impossible for us to treat the injured very well," said Tu Chongqi, chief of the orthopedics department of Huaxi Hospital.
Even so, most of the volunteers are Tibetans from Sichuan, and their accents are a different from Tibetans in Yushu.
Yongna, a first-year student majoring in business management at the university, said: "Sometimes we can't understand each other, even though we're all Tibetans, so we have to use gestures to communicate."
