Village Doctor Carries Medical Equipment Out on a Shoulder Pole During Flood, Showing Dedication

On August 11, Yan Xinshun, an elderly village doctor in Banshan Village, Wentang Town, Pingshan County, once again came to the home of 85-year-old villager Yan Ruifang to give him massage therapy. After the flood, Yan Xinshun stayed at his post, providing routine treatment for villagers and going from village to village to spread knowledge about epidemic and disease prevention.

During this flood, Yan Xinshun made 7 trips back and forth through the floodwaters, using a shoulder pole to rescue the medical supplies and villagers' health records from the village clinic, protecting state property and using the small pole on his shoulders to carry the moral sentiment and professional dedication of a grassroots medical worker. For more than ten days he stayed there continuously, providing medical treatment for the people. Recently, Yan Xinshun was named one of the "2016 Most Beautiful People of Hebei for Disaster Relief and Post-Disaster Reconstruction."

At 14:00 on July 19, the water level of the Wentang River beside Banshan Village rose sharply, and the flood raged, washing against the villagers' houses and the village streets. The situation was extremely urgent.

"We can't wait any longer, we must evacuate immediately!" The rainstorm continued, and the floodwaters quickly swept over the riverbank, over the street surface, and into the courtyard of the village clinic. But more than 1,000 residents' health records for all the villagers in the village clinic, the computer containing the files, and medical drugs and instruments worth more than 40,000 yuan had not yet been moved out.

"They must be moved to safety immediately!" At this critical moment, the village doctor Yan Xinshun, already past sixty, ignored his old age and frail body, did not wait or rely on others, and quickly packed the health records and computer into two boxes, wrapped them in plastic sheeting, then grabbed a shoulder pole lying in the courtyard, hoisted the boxes onto his shoulders, and rushed into the rainstorm.

The safe location was more than a li away from the village clinic. On the road, the mud was knee-deep, and fierce winds twisted and battered the trees. Yan Xinshun was already advanced in years and lacked physical strength; several times he could not stand steady and nearly was swept away by the flood together with the boxes. With one hand he gripped an umbrella, and with the other he picked up a tree branch as a walking stick, wading through the water, gritting his teeth and persevering, struggling forward through the storm.

Making 7 trips back and forth, Yan Xinshun managed to carry the clinic's important materials, file computer, electrocardiogram machine, pressure cooker for sterilizing dressings, sputum suction device, electric baking lamp, and medical drugs to the safe area. For the oxygen tank, medical bed, tables and chairs, and other large items that he truly could not move, Yan Xinshun placed them in relatively safe places in the clinic. A journey that normally took only a few minutes took Yan Xinshun a full 6 hours that day!

The situation was critical, and villagers engaged in flood fighting and emergency rescue urged him to evacuate quickly, but Yan Xinshun stubbornly said, "I am clinic staff, and I must first protect our medical equipment and medicines."

Yan Xinshun, now 60 years old, began working in August 1974 and has always served as the village's village doctor. In 40 years of rural medical and health work, Yan Xinshun has scrupulously observed medical ethics, made quiet contributions, assiduously studied medical skills, treated patients as family, and with a sincere heart protected the health of the villagers in his area. In an ordinary workplace, through his selfless dedication and practical actions, he embodies the professional integrity of a village doctor.

After the disaster, Yan Xinshun volunteered to go to the Wentang Town Health Center and joined the town's post-disaster epidemic prevention team, carrying out environmental disinfection, epidemic prevention for people and livestock, disinfection of farms, and publicity on post-disaster disease prevention.