Congratulations! 94-year-old grandma awarded "International Achievement Award": aims to train more Florence Nightingales for China.
2023-07-21 09:12
Zhang is the first Chinese nurse to win the prestigious global award.
"Zhang Jinyuan, the founder and honorary chairman of Chinese Nightingale Volunteer Service Work, has been presented with this award for her work in establishing a four-in-one model of community, hospital, family and volunteer and a chain service model of home-based care for the elderly," said Annette Kennedy, former president of the International Council of Nurses, in the announcement of the award in Montreal, Canada, on July 2.
Kennedy added that the nonagenarian was also being honored for establishing a smart elderly care service platform to deliver accurate and efficient voluntary service, connecting people with needs with volunteer service projects and improving the efficiency of such services.
Zhang began working as a nurse at a hospital in Nanchang in 1951.
During her 45 years as a practicing clinical nurse, Zhang was committed to exploring and developing innovative nursing care tools and techniques, including changing bedsheets in a way that prevents raising dust, using a strap to help move heavy patients and creating a prototype device for sending alerts when intravenous infusions malfunction.
Zhang officially retired in 1993 but was looking for opportunities to continue playing a role in nursing care.
During a visit to a patient's home, Zhang found that the elderly person, whose blood pressure reading was unstable, often forgot to take medicines and monitor their blood pressure regularly.
"At first, we were met with sneering and mistrust from local residents. Some even mistook us for swindlers," Zhang said.
But by successfully helping and caring for a bedridden patient who had just been discharged from a hospital, she said the group began winning recognition from the public.
In October 2009, Zhang set up a home-based elderly care volunteer group to improve the range and quality of services.
The size of the group she led kept growing and now consists of nearly 20,000 volunteers. They have offered services for more than 700,000 people in 350 neighborhoods.
Reporter: Wang Xiaoyu