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一群具有高度职业操守的医务工作者从2009年起组成团队,医治深受抗战时期日军细菌战之苦的“烂脚病”老年患者,八年多来不厌其烦地上门服务,他们的故事感人肺腑
面对深受抗战时期日军细菌战之苦的“烂脚病”老年患者,一群具有高度职业操守的医护工作者动了真情。从2009年起至今,他们组成团队,主动放弃休息,克服困难,全力以赴提供救助。据统计,至2017年底,他们已为患者上门换药2000余人次,发放药品、电话随访2200余人次,回收销毁医疗垃圾1100余公斤。而仅在衢州,以万少华命名的志愿者医护团队目前已达700多人,都参与到“烂脚病”患者的疗治中。
如今“万少华团队”的感人故事在浙江省内外广为流传,团队被中宣部授予“时代楷模”荣誉称号,入选“中国好人榜”,获“最美浙江人”“浙江骄傲人物”“最美浙江人——青春领袖”“最美衢州人”特别荣誉奖……最近,作为党的十九大代表的万少华在全省各地巡回宣讲时说,人民健康是民族昌盛和国家富强的重要标志。实施健康中国战略,我们不能忘记这些饱受病痛折磨的战争受害者。
目睹慘状,他们涌起爱心
“万少华团队”倾注巨大心力,做出这番特殊贡献的起因,缘自另一项关爱乡村老人的医疗救助任务。
2009年3月,浙江省民政厅在衢州市柯城区专门设立了一个救助患病老人试点,时任柯城区人民医院医务科科长的万少华是这一试点工作的负责人之一。“就是在开展这项试点工作、在柯城区着手进行基层乡村摸底调查时,我和我的同事们发现了居住在偏远山村的日军细菌战烂脚病患者。当真切地看到他们痛苦不堪的模样时,那种震惊实在无以言表。”万少华回忆。
1942年后,因美军对日本本土的轰炸加剧,日军调整所谓战略部署,在浙赣地区大面积使用鼠疫、霍乱、炭疽等病毒攻击中国平民,造成各地疫病大流行,使美军飞行员无法在此降落,而浙西衢州为细菌战在中国的第一战场。战后专项调查显示,截至1948年末,衢州地区累计因细菌战发病达30余万人,死亡5万余人。当时的衢州《大明报》曾记录惨状:“田野无人迹,午夜多哭声!沿途只见抬棺材。”迄今衢州全市仍有100余名细菌战烂脚病(炭疽杆菌感染)患者,“万少华团队”的救助性治疗对象为柯城区范围内的39名细菌战烂脚病患者。
柯城区九华乡寺坞村的魏洪福、九华乡坞口村的刘四古、黄家乡新铺村的崔菊英、沟溪乡碗窑村的巫双良、华墅乡三官岭村的周土文……都是普普通通、安分守己的农民,却因感染日军细菌而患上了严重的“烂脚病”。这些存活至今的患者其实是战争幸存者,每时每刻所承受的肉体痛苦远超人们的想象。
亲眼目睹他们的痛苦模样,感受他们强烈的心灵呼唤,万少华当即决定,不管自己的工作多么繁忙,不管救助他们需要耗费多少精力、需要克服多少困难,也要全力以赴伸出援手,“一代人有一代人的使命,我们不能缺失责任。我们要让这些受害者好好活着!”
就这样,2009年3月,由万少华发起,柯城区人民医院部分医护人员发扬人道主义精神,组成了“烂脚病”治疗小组,为受害者“抚慰”历史的“伤痛”。这一被人们称为“万少华团队”的治疗小组,由万少华、郑新华、毛晓伟、戴云刚、丰青龙、余志斌、柴腾蛟医师和占倩颖、韩继红、江小芳、徐丽芳、姜好护士以及驾驶员徐宏景、叶圣忠等组成,在长达8年多的时间里,根据每个“烂脚病”患者的病情,制定个性化治疗方案,定期随访、定期换药,规范治疗,直到现在。
消除抵触和顾虑,
靠的是优质服务
然而,“万少华团队”的救助工作刚开始时,不少“烂脚病”患者并不配合。
有的患者有的故意不理不睬,有的看到医务人员就逃,你怎么解释都不听。万少华团队成员们请乡民政员和村干部一起做工作,说明来意,以期消除患者及家属们的抵触和顾虑。
解除对方顾虑的最好办法,是无私、耐心、优质的医疗服务。医护人员们根据实际情况,为每一个老人建立医疗档案、制定不同的医疗方案,谁在接受救助,谁用了哪些药,谁的病情有哪些变化,都记录得清清楚楚。对居住偏远、拖着烂脚进城看病不便的老人,就安排多上几次门。对具备一定自主处置能力的,还教会他们基本的换药包扎技术,每次多留一些药水和纱布。为了便于和老人们交流,老家江西的万少华认真学起了衢州话,甚至还用心学一些农村的“土话”。渐渐地,患者们开始信任这些医护人员,越来越多的“烂脚病”患者愿意接受治疗。
为了更快地接触到患者,与患者的距离更拉近些,团队里的所有医护人员都没有穿防护服,以免患者产生遭受歧视的误会。“虽说这是个一类传染病,似乎应该与患者之间实施必要的隔离,但我们认为,虽然具有传染性,但它是厌氧菌,一旦暴露在空气中是会死掉的,所以与患者直接接触应该不会有被传染危险。当然对此我们应谨慎为妥,因为我们必须保证医护人员的人身安全,也必须阻断这一传染病的扩散。”
“万少华团队”的救助很快有了效果,不少患者溃烂处的脓水有所减少,更明显的是身体的感觉好了不少。由此一来,对治疗自然也更积极主动配合了,与“万少华团队”结成了朋友关系,有的还视他们为“恩人”。有些“烂脚病”患者的亲属甚至把医护人员视为自己人,一到山村,他们就请医护人员吃鸡蛋、野笋干,生活上遇到麻烦也会与医护人员商量。
老人有召唤,便放下自己的所有
“有时,去治疗;常常,去帮助;总是,去安慰。”这是“万少华团队”的医护人员对自己这份奉献的大致描述。
医护人员的日常工作十分繁重,救助“烂脚病”患者对于“万少华团队”全体成员来说,是一项额外的工作。柯城区人民医院各方面的条件还不怎么好,外科医生也极紧缺,平时连休息时间都很难安排。为了救助这些“烂脚病”患者,团队里的所有成员只有下了夜班,第二天查完房,才能利用半天的休息时间前往山村。“谁有时间谁就去”,这是团队不成文的规定。事实上,这个“时间”往往就是团队成员一两天的休息时间。 团队成员之一的徐丽芳,现任护理部护士长,以前在ICU病房工作,所从事工作之繁重自不待言,但作为团队里资格较老的成员,只要患者有需要,就无条件地放弃自己的休息时间,赶赴到患病老人身边。“记得有一次,一个‘烂脚病’患者家属打来电话,说老人家的病情有变化。接到这条信息后我问徐丽芳能不能一起去看老人,刚值完班的徐丽芳二话没说就跟我去了,过了两天我才听说她自己的父亲因心脏病正住在我们医院,她都没时间去陪。”万少华告诉笔者,在团队成员中,类似这样的例子俯拾皆是。
刘四古是“万少华团队”在山区小村发现的第一个“烂脚病”患者,长年居住在一间与众人隔开的集体房里,糜烂的双脚肿得流血流脓。但郑新华医生一次次进山为他治疗。由于每次换药需要很长时间,郑新华常汗湿衣服。可他始终坚持为刘四古上门治疗,从无懈怠,直至2012年老人离世。
团队的另一名成员余志斌是一名外科医生,2010年参加工作。来到柯城区人民医院后当他得悉有个“万少华团队”,立即主动要求加入。“烂脚病”患者病情变化大,余志斌有时不得不连续下村,正常的休息早已不可能有了,可他乐在其中,从未缺席一次下村。在他的鼓动下,他的女友、2014年参加工作的同院护士姜好也加入了团队,两个人经常找时间结伴去帮老人们换药,陪他们聊天,陪他们过生日。
一年又一年,要问“万少华团队”的全体人员是什么力量支撑着他们一直堅持,“因为老人们需要我们!”这便是他们的回答。
与病魔展开拉锯战,给患者送去温暖
“烂脚病”治愈过程中的一大难题,是患者随着年龄的增长,自身的抵抗能力和修复能力越来越差,这就导致个别患者即便接受了较好的治疗,其病情仍在加重,这让“万少华团队”深感救助的迫切性,与病魔展开拉锯式战斗,“万少华团队”也正在与时间赛跑。
“每次得知这些老人中又有人离世,心里就有说不出的痛。”万少华反复说着这句话,他和同事们正在做的事,是让深受历史伤痛折磨的老人在晚年能获得必要的治疗和抚慰,尽量减少身心痛苦,而老人们的离世,则给万少华他们留下巨大的遗憾。因此他们认定,唯有把救助工作做得更及时些、更细致些,方能让还能享受人间最后一缕温暖的老人绽开笑容,也方能求得自身心灵的安慰。
受“万少华团队”先进事迹的感染,越来越多的人加入救助“烂脚病”患者的志愿服务队伍。如今在衢州市,每一位因细菌战而罹患“烂脚病”的老人都可以得到免费的医疗救助,衢州各个县市区都已成立了义务医疗救助团队,名字都叫“万少华团队”。2016年6月12日,中共浙江省委发出《关于开展向“万少华团队”学习活动的决定》后,全省各地不少医护工作者和各界人士纷纷向他们学习,“万少华团队”已在全省各地出现。
“恤治疮痍,担当使命”,这是“万少华团队”的座右铭。他们的艰苦努力,使已濒临绝望的战争受害者减轻了痛苦,也使70多年前那场残暴的细菌战再度呈现在世人眼前,罪恶的日本军国主义再次被钉在历史耻辱柱上。2014年,原“侵华日军衢州细菌战纪念馆”得以扩建并更名“侵华日军细菌战衢州展览馆”,并与北京卢沟桥等一起,名列首批国家级抗战纪念遗址。如今,“万少华团队”的故事和相关材料已入选该馆和衢州市博物馆,成为最新的控诉战争之害的证据。
万少华和他的同事们在无数荣誉面前,始终保持着清醒头脑,他们并非追逐荣誉而来,只是为了看到患病老人开心的笑容。“我们很有幸能够照顾这些老人的晚年生活,我们能够还给他们一个相对舒适的晚年,无论身体上还是精神上。我相信我们的团队会坚持下去,这是团队的承诺,也是我们甘愿承担的社会责任。多为他们治疗一次创伤,多为他们减少一些痛苦,多给他们送上一份温暖,干什么都是值得的。”万少华质朴而热忱的语言,道出的是团队每个成员的心声。
(本文照片由衢州市委宣传部和作者收集提供)
Doctors in Quzhou Take Care of Rotten Legs
By Sun Kan
For some people in Quzhou in southwestern Zhejiang, World War II is not completely over. Some old people are still suffering from the rotten legs, a consequence of the germ warfare launched by Japanese aggressors in 1942. Many who survived the germ onslaught in the 1940s lived with the pain and died after decades of suffering. Some are still alive and they still suffer the pain in their evening years.
Between May and September 1942, Japanese troops launched a well-planned campaign against civilians in Zhejiang and neighboring Jiangxi provinces for a US Air Force bombing on Tokyo and other large Japanese cities and for the rescue campaign people in Zhejiang organized to save American pilots after most bombers crash landed in Zhejiang. A survey made in 1948 indicated that over 300,000 people in Quzhou had been infected with bubonic plague, anthrax, cholera and 50,000 died. Compared with victims of bubonic plague, a large number of those infected with anthrax survived, only to live in an ever-worsening nightmare. The nightmare followed many of them into their graves, many years after the war. By now, about 100 victims living across Quzhou City are still alive and suffer every day. A group of doctors, nurses and volunteers named after its leader Wan Shaohua began to take care of 39 rotten-leg senior citizens in Kecheng District of Quzhou City in 2009.
Wan Shaohua and his colleagues ran into these victims by accident. In March 2009, the provincial government set up a pilot program in Kecheng District to provide special medical service and care for senior citizens. Wan Shaohua, a department leader of Kecheng District People’s Hospital, was in charge of the work. He started a field study to find out how many senior citizens needed to be included in the program. During their investigation trip into a remote village in mountains, they saw the first of the villagers who were suffering from the anthrax disease. The rotten legs astounded them and made them speechless.
“Each generation has its responsibilities. We need to take ours. We want to enable them to live a good life,” Wan explained the motivation behind the decision he and his colleagues made there and then. In March 2009, Wan Shaohua made the initiative to organize a team to take care of the senior citizens suffering from the rotten legs. Seven doctors, five nurses and two drivers signed up. They made individualized treatment plans for each of the 39 victims. Over the past nine years, they have visited these patients at regular intervals, applying medical treatment and elevating the pain.
However, when the team started working for these victims, some of them were not cooperative. Some even fled at the sight of doctors and nurses. Some victims simply played dumb and didn’t respond to doctors and nurses. Wan and his colleagues asked village leaders to explain what they were going to do and why they were doing it. Gradually, misgivings went away and the victims accepted treatment. After a short while, some victims felt better and their conditions improved. The victims began to trust the doctors and nurses.
The team established a system of individual files on all these victims. All the treatment and examination results are carefully recorded. However, as patients got older and weaker, some rotten legs failed to respond to treatment and even became worse. In the years, some have passed away with the pain from the biological warfare of Japanese aggressors.
Influenced by Wan Shaohua Team, many doctors and nurses as well as volunteers in Quzhou have joined them. Right now all the counties and districts under the jurisdiction of Quzhou have a medical team providing all the victims in their respective region with medical service and care free of charge. All the individual teams are called Wan Shaohua Team.
The story of Wan Shaohua Team is now part of Quzhou Exhibition Museum of Germ Warfare of Japanese Aggressors. In 2014, the museum was designated by Chinese government as a national site for the memory of China’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggressors.
面对深受抗战时期日军细菌战之苦的“烂脚病”老年患者,一群具有高度职业操守的医护工作者动了真情。从2009年起至今,他们组成团队,主动放弃休息,克服困难,全力以赴提供救助。据统计,至2017年底,他们已为患者上门换药2000余人次,发放药品、电话随访2200余人次,回收销毁医疗垃圾1100余公斤。而仅在衢州,以万少华命名的志愿者医护团队目前已达700多人,都参与到“烂脚病”患者的疗治中。
如今“万少华团队”的感人故事在浙江省内外广为流传,团队被中宣部授予“时代楷模”荣誉称号,入选“中国好人榜”,获“最美浙江人”“浙江骄傲人物”“最美浙江人——青春领袖”“最美衢州人”特别荣誉奖……最近,作为党的十九大代表的万少华在全省各地巡回宣讲时说,人民健康是民族昌盛和国家富强的重要标志。实施健康中国战略,我们不能忘记这些饱受病痛折磨的战争受害者。
目睹慘状,他们涌起爱心
“万少华团队”倾注巨大心力,做出这番特殊贡献的起因,缘自另一项关爱乡村老人的医疗救助任务。
2009年3月,浙江省民政厅在衢州市柯城区专门设立了一个救助患病老人试点,时任柯城区人民医院医务科科长的万少华是这一试点工作的负责人之一。“就是在开展这项试点工作、在柯城区着手进行基层乡村摸底调查时,我和我的同事们发现了居住在偏远山村的日军细菌战烂脚病患者。当真切地看到他们痛苦不堪的模样时,那种震惊实在无以言表。”万少华回忆。
1942年后,因美军对日本本土的轰炸加剧,日军调整所谓战略部署,在浙赣地区大面积使用鼠疫、霍乱、炭疽等病毒攻击中国平民,造成各地疫病大流行,使美军飞行员无法在此降落,而浙西衢州为细菌战在中国的第一战场。战后专项调查显示,截至1948年末,衢州地区累计因细菌战发病达30余万人,死亡5万余人。当时的衢州《大明报》曾记录惨状:“田野无人迹,午夜多哭声!沿途只见抬棺材。”迄今衢州全市仍有100余名细菌战烂脚病(炭疽杆菌感染)患者,“万少华团队”的救助性治疗对象为柯城区范围内的39名细菌战烂脚病患者。
柯城区九华乡寺坞村的魏洪福、九华乡坞口村的刘四古、黄家乡新铺村的崔菊英、沟溪乡碗窑村的巫双良、华墅乡三官岭村的周土文……都是普普通通、安分守己的农民,却因感染日军细菌而患上了严重的“烂脚病”。这些存活至今的患者其实是战争幸存者,每时每刻所承受的肉体痛苦远超人们的想象。
亲眼目睹他们的痛苦模样,感受他们强烈的心灵呼唤,万少华当即决定,不管自己的工作多么繁忙,不管救助他们需要耗费多少精力、需要克服多少困难,也要全力以赴伸出援手,“一代人有一代人的使命,我们不能缺失责任。我们要让这些受害者好好活着!”
就这样,2009年3月,由万少华发起,柯城区人民医院部分医护人员发扬人道主义精神,组成了“烂脚病”治疗小组,为受害者“抚慰”历史的“伤痛”。这一被人们称为“万少华团队”的治疗小组,由万少华、郑新华、毛晓伟、戴云刚、丰青龙、余志斌、柴腾蛟医师和占倩颖、韩继红、江小芳、徐丽芳、姜好护士以及驾驶员徐宏景、叶圣忠等组成,在长达8年多的时间里,根据每个“烂脚病”患者的病情,制定个性化治疗方案,定期随访、定期换药,规范治疗,直到现在。
消除抵触和顾虑,
靠的是优质服务
然而,“万少华团队”的救助工作刚开始时,不少“烂脚病”患者并不配合。
有的患者有的故意不理不睬,有的看到医务人员就逃,你怎么解释都不听。万少华团队成员们请乡民政员和村干部一起做工作,说明来意,以期消除患者及家属们的抵触和顾虑。
解除对方顾虑的最好办法,是无私、耐心、优质的医疗服务。医护人员们根据实际情况,为每一个老人建立医疗档案、制定不同的医疗方案,谁在接受救助,谁用了哪些药,谁的病情有哪些变化,都记录得清清楚楚。对居住偏远、拖着烂脚进城看病不便的老人,就安排多上几次门。对具备一定自主处置能力的,还教会他们基本的换药包扎技术,每次多留一些药水和纱布。为了便于和老人们交流,老家江西的万少华认真学起了衢州话,甚至还用心学一些农村的“土话”。渐渐地,患者们开始信任这些医护人员,越来越多的“烂脚病”患者愿意接受治疗。
为了更快地接触到患者,与患者的距离更拉近些,团队里的所有医护人员都没有穿防护服,以免患者产生遭受歧视的误会。“虽说这是个一类传染病,似乎应该与患者之间实施必要的隔离,但我们认为,虽然具有传染性,但它是厌氧菌,一旦暴露在空气中是会死掉的,所以与患者直接接触应该不会有被传染危险。当然对此我们应谨慎为妥,因为我们必须保证医护人员的人身安全,也必须阻断这一传染病的扩散。”
“万少华团队”的救助很快有了效果,不少患者溃烂处的脓水有所减少,更明显的是身体的感觉好了不少。由此一来,对治疗自然也更积极主动配合了,与“万少华团队”结成了朋友关系,有的还视他们为“恩人”。有些“烂脚病”患者的亲属甚至把医护人员视为自己人,一到山村,他们就请医护人员吃鸡蛋、野笋干,生活上遇到麻烦也会与医护人员商量。
老人有召唤,便放下自己的所有
“有时,去治疗;常常,去帮助;总是,去安慰。”这是“万少华团队”的医护人员对自己这份奉献的大致描述。
医护人员的日常工作十分繁重,救助“烂脚病”患者对于“万少华团队”全体成员来说,是一项额外的工作。柯城区人民医院各方面的条件还不怎么好,外科医生也极紧缺,平时连休息时间都很难安排。为了救助这些“烂脚病”患者,团队里的所有成员只有下了夜班,第二天查完房,才能利用半天的休息时间前往山村。“谁有时间谁就去”,这是团队不成文的规定。事实上,这个“时间”往往就是团队成员一两天的休息时间。 团队成员之一的徐丽芳,现任护理部护士长,以前在ICU病房工作,所从事工作之繁重自不待言,但作为团队里资格较老的成员,只要患者有需要,就无条件地放弃自己的休息时间,赶赴到患病老人身边。“记得有一次,一个‘烂脚病’患者家属打来电话,说老人家的病情有变化。接到这条信息后我问徐丽芳能不能一起去看老人,刚值完班的徐丽芳二话没说就跟我去了,过了两天我才听说她自己的父亲因心脏病正住在我们医院,她都没时间去陪。”万少华告诉笔者,在团队成员中,类似这样的例子俯拾皆是。
刘四古是“万少华团队”在山区小村发现的第一个“烂脚病”患者,长年居住在一间与众人隔开的集体房里,糜烂的双脚肿得流血流脓。但郑新华医生一次次进山为他治疗。由于每次换药需要很长时间,郑新华常汗湿衣服。可他始终坚持为刘四古上门治疗,从无懈怠,直至2012年老人离世。
团队的另一名成员余志斌是一名外科医生,2010年参加工作。来到柯城区人民医院后当他得悉有个“万少华团队”,立即主动要求加入。“烂脚病”患者病情变化大,余志斌有时不得不连续下村,正常的休息早已不可能有了,可他乐在其中,从未缺席一次下村。在他的鼓动下,他的女友、2014年参加工作的同院护士姜好也加入了团队,两个人经常找时间结伴去帮老人们换药,陪他们聊天,陪他们过生日。
一年又一年,要问“万少华团队”的全体人员是什么力量支撑着他们一直堅持,“因为老人们需要我们!”这便是他们的回答。
与病魔展开拉锯战,给患者送去温暖
“烂脚病”治愈过程中的一大难题,是患者随着年龄的增长,自身的抵抗能力和修复能力越来越差,这就导致个别患者即便接受了较好的治疗,其病情仍在加重,这让“万少华团队”深感救助的迫切性,与病魔展开拉锯式战斗,“万少华团队”也正在与时间赛跑。
“每次得知这些老人中又有人离世,心里就有说不出的痛。”万少华反复说着这句话,他和同事们正在做的事,是让深受历史伤痛折磨的老人在晚年能获得必要的治疗和抚慰,尽量减少身心痛苦,而老人们的离世,则给万少华他们留下巨大的遗憾。因此他们认定,唯有把救助工作做得更及时些、更细致些,方能让还能享受人间最后一缕温暖的老人绽开笑容,也方能求得自身心灵的安慰。
受“万少华团队”先进事迹的感染,越来越多的人加入救助“烂脚病”患者的志愿服务队伍。如今在衢州市,每一位因细菌战而罹患“烂脚病”的老人都可以得到免费的医疗救助,衢州各个县市区都已成立了义务医疗救助团队,名字都叫“万少华团队”。2016年6月12日,中共浙江省委发出《关于开展向“万少华团队”学习活动的决定》后,全省各地不少医护工作者和各界人士纷纷向他们学习,“万少华团队”已在全省各地出现。
“恤治疮痍,担当使命”,这是“万少华团队”的座右铭。他们的艰苦努力,使已濒临绝望的战争受害者减轻了痛苦,也使70多年前那场残暴的细菌战再度呈现在世人眼前,罪恶的日本军国主义再次被钉在历史耻辱柱上。2014年,原“侵华日军衢州细菌战纪念馆”得以扩建并更名“侵华日军细菌战衢州展览馆”,并与北京卢沟桥等一起,名列首批国家级抗战纪念遗址。如今,“万少华团队”的故事和相关材料已入选该馆和衢州市博物馆,成为最新的控诉战争之害的证据。
万少华和他的同事们在无数荣誉面前,始终保持着清醒头脑,他们并非追逐荣誉而来,只是为了看到患病老人开心的笑容。“我们很有幸能够照顾这些老人的晚年生活,我们能够还给他们一个相对舒适的晚年,无论身体上还是精神上。我相信我们的团队会坚持下去,这是团队的承诺,也是我们甘愿承担的社会责任。多为他们治疗一次创伤,多为他们减少一些痛苦,多给他们送上一份温暖,干什么都是值得的。”万少华质朴而热忱的语言,道出的是团队每个成员的心声。
(本文照片由衢州市委宣传部和作者收集提供)
Doctors in Quzhou Take Care of Rotten Legs
By Sun Kan
For some people in Quzhou in southwestern Zhejiang, World War II is not completely over. Some old people are still suffering from the rotten legs, a consequence of the germ warfare launched by Japanese aggressors in 1942. Many who survived the germ onslaught in the 1940s lived with the pain and died after decades of suffering. Some are still alive and they still suffer the pain in their evening years.
Between May and September 1942, Japanese troops launched a well-planned campaign against civilians in Zhejiang and neighboring Jiangxi provinces for a US Air Force bombing on Tokyo and other large Japanese cities and for the rescue campaign people in Zhejiang organized to save American pilots after most bombers crash landed in Zhejiang. A survey made in 1948 indicated that over 300,000 people in Quzhou had been infected with bubonic plague, anthrax, cholera and 50,000 died. Compared with victims of bubonic plague, a large number of those infected with anthrax survived, only to live in an ever-worsening nightmare. The nightmare followed many of them into their graves, many years after the war. By now, about 100 victims living across Quzhou City are still alive and suffer every day. A group of doctors, nurses and volunteers named after its leader Wan Shaohua began to take care of 39 rotten-leg senior citizens in Kecheng District of Quzhou City in 2009.
Wan Shaohua and his colleagues ran into these victims by accident. In March 2009, the provincial government set up a pilot program in Kecheng District to provide special medical service and care for senior citizens. Wan Shaohua, a department leader of Kecheng District People’s Hospital, was in charge of the work. He started a field study to find out how many senior citizens needed to be included in the program. During their investigation trip into a remote village in mountains, they saw the first of the villagers who were suffering from the anthrax disease. The rotten legs astounded them and made them speechless.
“Each generation has its responsibilities. We need to take ours. We want to enable them to live a good life,” Wan explained the motivation behind the decision he and his colleagues made there and then. In March 2009, Wan Shaohua made the initiative to organize a team to take care of the senior citizens suffering from the rotten legs. Seven doctors, five nurses and two drivers signed up. They made individualized treatment plans for each of the 39 victims. Over the past nine years, they have visited these patients at regular intervals, applying medical treatment and elevating the pain.
However, when the team started working for these victims, some of them were not cooperative. Some even fled at the sight of doctors and nurses. Some victims simply played dumb and didn’t respond to doctors and nurses. Wan and his colleagues asked village leaders to explain what they were going to do and why they were doing it. Gradually, misgivings went away and the victims accepted treatment. After a short while, some victims felt better and their conditions improved. The victims began to trust the doctors and nurses.
The team established a system of individual files on all these victims. All the treatment and examination results are carefully recorded. However, as patients got older and weaker, some rotten legs failed to respond to treatment and even became worse. In the years, some have passed away with the pain from the biological warfare of Japanese aggressors.
Influenced by Wan Shaohua Team, many doctors and nurses as well as volunteers in Quzhou have joined them. Right now all the counties and districts under the jurisdiction of Quzhou have a medical team providing all the victims in their respective region with medical service and care free of charge. All the individual teams are called Wan Shaohua Team.
The story of Wan Shaohua Team is now part of Quzhou Exhibition Museum of Germ Warfare of Japanese Aggressors. In 2014, the museum was designated by Chinese government as a national site for the memory of China’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggressors.