Nurse's videos bring home virus battle

Footage shot on mobile phone revives memories of emotional efforts to save patients

Hu Xuejun's life gradually returned to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic was largely brought under control in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province.

But the young nurse from Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital still watches videos she shot earlier this year to relive the touching moments she and her colleagues experienced when the city was hard hit by the novel coronavirus.

The most impressive video is of the recovery of a critically ill patient at her hospital. The patient was sent to the intensive care unit at the end of February. He was kept alive by an ECMO machine that oxygenates and pumps the patient's blood, and thanks to medical workers' efforts he recovered after 40 days.

"It is hard to express the joy of witnessing the recovery of a patient with my own eyes," said Hu, who works in the hospital's respiratory and critical disease department.

Another video shows four patients singing a song they wrote to express their heartfelt thanks to medical workers when they were discharged from the hospital.

"Some of the footage can only be shot by medical workers," she said. "I wanted to record and show what we did to save lives during the period as well as our spirit during this difficult fight."

The 27-year-old used her mobile phone to record more than 50 hours of video in the wards, treatment rooms and ICUs of her hospital.