Retired nurse champions grassroots HIV/AIDS care

At 63, when most of her peers in the medical field are settling into a quiet retirement, Wang Kerong is packing her bags for the rugged mountains of Southwest China.

Over the past month alone, the former head nurse of Beijing Ditan Hospital has crossed the country, from the coastal powerhouse of Guangdong to the rural heartlands of Anhui and Sichuan.

Wang is taking the fight against HIV/AIDS out of elite metropolitan hospitals and directly into China's most underserved, grassroots communities.

"My goal has always been simple — to care for every patient who comes to me," Wang said. "Now, I want to bring my experience and knowledge to more remote regions and reach more people in need."

For decades, Wang has been a titan of infectious disease care in China.

She was the first Chinese nurse to win the prestigious Barry & Martin's Trust Annual Prize, and she holds the Florence Nightingale Medal — the highest international honor in nursing. She has also won numerous domestic awards in recognition of her contributions to the world of healthcare.

Wang began caring for HIV/AIDS patients in 1997. Noticing that many individuals living with HIV/AIDS needed psychological support in addition to medical treatment, she and her colleagues set up the Red Ribbon Home at Beijing Ditan Hospital in 1999.

The social organization, which provides comprehensive care ranging from medical services to mental health support and legal aid for HIV/AIDS patients, was officially registered in 2005.

"Back then, an HIV diagnosis was seen as a death sentence," she said. "Nowadays, thanks to improved treatments and supportive policies, the majority of patients can live normal lives as long as they adhere to consistent treatment and follow-up visits."

To date, the Red Ribbon Home has more than 20,000 registered volunteers and receives over 10,000 patients and their family members annually.

In recent years, Wang has devoted more energy to promoting HIV case management practices, which include three months of treatment consultation and medication adherence education for newly diagnosed patients, regular follow-up visits and long-term management, as well as efforts to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B.

During her recent training sessions in the Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture in Sichuan province, Wang met a 13-year-old HIV patient who had sunk into despair and refused to take her medication.

Through persistent counseling and emotional support from individual case management workers, the patient gradually regained hope and even wrote a letter to fellow patients, sharing her personal experiences to encourage others to stay optimistic.

Though she no longer manages a hospital ward, Wang's work never truly stops.

Her personal cellphone contains the contact details of thousands of patients from every corner of China. At all hours of the day, she still answers their questions, calms their anxieties and guides them through their darkest moments.

"Their trust is what has kept me going all these years," Wang said.

wangxiaoyu@chinadaily.com.cn