A total of 19 nurses from Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province are sent to Wuhan, the city where COVID-19 was first reported, to offer medical support. [Photo/WeChat account: zjzsrbs]

A total of 19 nurses from Zhoushan, East China's Zhejiang province have been sent to Wuhan, the city where the COVID-19 was first reported, to offer medical support. 

Some shared their anti-virus experience during a commendation conference held in Zhoushan Hospital to mark International Nurses Day on May 12. 

Guo Shu, a nurse from Zhoushan Women and Children Hospital, shared a photo taken by a patient on her first day in the makeshift hospital in Wuhan, when her shoes were covered by a yellow garbage bag. 

She said she had told herself to keep a distance from her patients, but when she saw them, she realized that they were more than just COVID-19 patients, but a group of people in desperate for help. Looking into their helpless eyes, she felt a sense of guilt for what she had thought.

Zhu Pengfeng, a nurse from Zhoushan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said one patient was relieved after learning that she was from Zhejiang. 

The feeling of being trusted by her patients gave her more confidence in caring for them and getting them back on their feet, Zhu added.

The first patient to be released from intensive care unit (ICU) donated five ventilators and 200 pairs of goggles to the hospital after being discharged. It was then that she realized that the most beautiful thing in Wuhan was not the cherry blossoms, but the people. 

Yu Danni, a nurse at Putuo Hospital, recounted her work in the ICU at Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital. 

The ratio of patients to nurses is supposed to be 1:4. In other words, one ICU patient that sustains life via ECMO should have at least 4 nurses, according to Yu. 

However, the reality was that there were only two nurses per severely ill patient in the ward. 

When the patient finally woke from her unconscious state, she squatted on the ground and cried uncontrollably. She expressed hope that more people will appreciate the nursing profession in the future. 

As of the end of 2019, the number of nurses registered in Zhoushan stood at 3,878, accounting for 40 percent of the total number of medical workers in the city, and the number of nurses exceeded that of doctors for the first time.