Doctor treats his patients as if they were family
AT 9am, the East Senior Center is enveloped in a quiet and peaceful atmosphere with the sound of vehicle engines unable to reach this place from Huyi Highway.
On a quiet lane, several people are chatting while another two practice tai chi.
A doctor in a white coat walks between two buildings. The 65-year-old, Li Hongxing, is known as “the guard” of the center’s seniors’ health.
Li was born in Zhongfang Village in Jiading New Town (Malu Town).
After middle school, he worked as a farmer for two years before being selected by village officials to receive medical training in downtown Shanghai.
After the training, Li took charge of the whole village’s medical work.
Li worked both as a doctor and a nurse and sometimes he was so busy that he had to ask his wife to lend a hand.
During the busy farming season, Li carried his medical kit on his back to serve farmers working in the fields.
When anyone was sick, Li would quickly be on the scene, his work taking him to every corner of the village.
In 1992, Li passed exams to become a general medical practitioner and worked at Malu Town Health Center until his retirement in 2008.
In 2009, the East Senior Center was looking for a general medical practitioner and Li was their choice because of his experience.
The center has more than 250 seniors and Li and a nurse are responsible for their physical and psychological health.
In 2012, one of the seniors choked while he was eating a piece of fruit. He appeared to be suffocating. Before the time Li arrived, the patient had already become unconscious.
Li figured out that the piece of fruit hadn’t entered the esophagus. So with the help of the nurse he had the patient sit up while he slapped him repeatedly on the back.
After several minutes the piece was dislodged.
A feeling of relief came over Li and sweat was dripping from his forehead. But his work was not yet done. He checked the patient and found him to be suffering from severe respiratory system disease.
He called the patient’s family and sent the patient to hospital where he recovered after treatment.
A woman surnamed Zuo said: “Dr Li is like a relative but I did not know how to thank him. I offered him gifts and money but he always declined.”
Li treated Zuo’s 85-year-old father at the center. But compared to his physical condition, Zuo said her father’s Alzheimer’s disease bothered Zuo more.
When the old man was at home, he frequently smashed things and sometimes even switched on the gas when no one else was there.
At the center, Li frequently chatted with him and offered him counseling.
Sometimes Zuo takes her father back home to live with her for a while when his condition is mild.
But often on the second day he would say he wanted to “go home,” referring to the center.
Li treats all the seniors as if they were his relatives and sometimes he is so busy that he does not have time to visit his own relatives. Li says he wants to continue his work until he, too, becomes a resident at the center.
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