Good News: Stray dog helps Wuhan nurse cope with trauma and pressure amid COVID-19

While the medics and healthcare workers have been braving the coronavirus pandemic in the frontline, treating the influx of patients in the fragile health care system, and protecting people from psychological traumas, a little stray dog in China helped a nurse get through her gruelling COVID-19 days. The 36-year-old nurse, Zhang Dan, was among the first nurses involved in the coronavirus response in the epicenter Wuhan assisting critical patients in the ICU with respiratory distress, as per the reports. 

Amongst the 42,600 medical workers that were migrated to Wuhan from around China to assist the overwhelmed and near collapse healthcare system, Zhang, noticed the small, yellowish street pooch that she adopted and later named Doudou, translates to “bean.” As per the reports, it was about the time when hospitals were crammed with patients, and clinicians struggled to handle the overflow. Having got one day of orientation, Zhang was thrown into the fray in February with a team of 133 members that donned the protective gear, four layers of protective gowns and gloves, three layers of shoe covers, two hats, two pairs of masks, goggles and a face shield to do their jobs. The healthcare workers wore adult diapers to avoid wasting time as hospitals witnessed a “tsunami” of COVID-19 patients.  

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Abandoned and reunited

In such challenging times, the dog named Doudou became a distraction and a daily preoccupation for the nurse. The healthcare worker’s trauma was drastically reduced having found a company in a stray dog that she could spend some time in her tedious day to connect with, a local media reported. “I can’t save the world, but I can try my best with my tiny efforts to do what I can do to help,” Zhang said. “We bought food if they needed it, soap, toothpaste and towels and medicine when there was a shortage,” she added. The nurse’s grandparents and parents, her mother who moved into their apartment in the city of Changchun when her husband returned home province for the Lunar New Year holiday, got exceedingly worried.  

According to reports, Zhang had got life insurance in order to secure her parents' future in case she succumbed to the illness. Further, by mid-march, as she packed up, she put Doudou up for adoption on social media and left on April 8. “It doesn’t matter if it is animals or people. You need to let them know what is going on,” she said. However, Doudou joined the loving nurse earlier this month amid the pandemic to play with four other pets friends, as per an agency report.  

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(Images Credit and Input From AP)