{"id":18161,"date":"2020-12-19T16:39:14","date_gmt":"2020-12-19T08:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/?p=18161"},"modified":"2021-06-21T16:12:33","modified_gmt":"2021-06-21T08:12:33","slug":"unsung-hero","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/2020\/12\/unsung-hero\/","title":{"rendered":"Unsung Hero\ufeff"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A veteran nurse who fought with COVID-19 at the frontline got diagnosed with the virus.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Soweon Park in Seoul<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kang-Jung-hwa, who has been working as a nurse for 20 years in Jeonju, South Korea, volunteered to serve COVID-19 patients in Daegu, a city which was hit hard by the pandemic in February.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEmpty streets and people were in panic. It made me feel like I am in a zombie movie,\u201d says Kang, recalling the first impression of the city when she arrived on March 2, 2020.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On February 28, 2020, the daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 in South Korea reached the peak at 909 patients. On the same day, Daegu, a city which is 230 kilometres from Seoul, reported 741 cases in the first wave of COVID-19 in the country.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kang\u2019s family was reluctant to let her go to Daegu fearing she might be infected by the deadly virus. But Kang insisted.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wanted to make my part of contribution with my medical knowledge and experience for the people, not as someone\u2019s mum or wife but just myself,\u201d Kang adds.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kang resigned from her job on February 28, 2020 and went to Daegu. She could not be absent from the hospital which she used to work for in Jeonju for a long time. Also, she did not know when she would be back.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy family and friends were worried about me, as I quit my job and went to do volunteer work. But I didn\u2019t think that I was quitting my job, rather, I thought that I just worked for another hospital in Daegu. Also I have a belief that I can work at any hospital,\u201d Kang says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Serving COVID-19 Patients<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kang worked in a ward for COVID-19 patients at Yeungnam University Medical Center, which was the frontline of the battle against the pandemic.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government recommended medical professionals to do volunteer work for four weeks, considering the fatigue and possibility of infection. But Kang stayed in Daegu for six weeks starting from March 2 to April 15, 2020.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs soon as I arrived in the medical centre, I had a two-hour orientation tour and then I was led to a ward,\u201d she says. The volunteer nurse was assigned to work for three two-hour shifts.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince it was too hard to work for long hours in full heavy protective gear, we took a two-hour break after working for two hours,\u201d Kang says.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kang says every medical worker had to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) from head to toe. With safety goggles and overshoes, the heavy protective gear is quite suffocating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Medical professionals are required to wear heavy personal protective equipment. (Photo courtesy of Kang Jung-hwa)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt feels like taking a sweat shower inside the protective clothing, and the pressure of goggles really hurts. I struggled with sore oozing from my nose bridge and ears,\u201d Kang says.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Working at the frontline and taking care of the patients can be psychologically demanding to medical workers. \u201cThe ward I worked for was a place of life and death. I witnessed patients whose family couldn\u2019t take care of them dying alone in a ward,\u201d she says.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome patients who could not accept that they were diagnosed with COVID-19 were so mad that they spat at me. It was hard to make them understand and accept the situation,\u201d she adds.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
After all the volunteering work, Kang received an award certificate for her sacrifice. (Photo courtesy of Kang Jung-hwa)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Nurse Became a Patient<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the fourth week of volunteering, most patients were close to full recovery and some were discharged from the hospital,\u201d Kang recalls.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On April 15 when the daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 dropped to one, Kang decided to go back to home.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the six-week volunteer work, she had to undergo two weeks of self-monitoring in a hotel in Daegu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI wished it were a dream. I was getting ready to go back home but just sent to the hospital instead.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

On April 28, a day before she was supposed to return home and meet her family, she was diagnosed with COVID-19. \u201cI wished it were a dream. I was getting ready to go back home but just sent to the hospital instead,\u201d Kang says.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She did not have any symptoms of COVID-19, so the diagnosis was a shock to her. \u201cI still don\u2019t know how I got infected,\u201d she says.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After she became a patient, she suffered from depression and panic disorder.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t sleep and eat well. During the 31-day of treatment, I realised how sad, lonely and frustrated the patients I helped were,\u201d Kang says.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trace Left by COVID-19<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Kang is now completely cured, she is still suffering from after effects of COVID-19.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI lost my sense of smell. It\u2019s getting better, but I sometimes still burn my rice. And also, I have muscle pain, particularly my legs,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kang used to go hiking on weekends, but she cannot do long walk now.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having experienced a dramatic change from being a nurse to a patient, Kang urges people not to blame the COVID-19 patients and survivors. \u201cNo one wants to be infected. Anyone can be infected, just like I was. We think ill of COVID-19 patients, but they are all infected by someone,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edited by Lasley Lui & Regina Chen<\/em>
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A veteran nurse who fought with COVID-19 at the frontline got diagnosed with the virus.\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":18065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1798,79],"tags":[1573,1615,1403],"class_list":["post-18161","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-issue-157","category-people","tag-covid19","tag-medical-worker","tag-south-korea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18161","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18161"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18165,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18161\/revisions\/18165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/varsity.com.cuhk.edu.hk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}