An Unexpected Farewell in a Makeshift Hospital

Photos by Liu Zhongcan

With a time-worn photo of her family of three in her hand—a photo taken on the 50th birthday of her husband,Zeng Hongbing,Deng Yanping was unable to accept the fact that her husband had passed away.She had cried for three days,holding the photo.In her cellphone,she kept another photo with her husband,which was taken by a colleague on March 10,25 days after they started working in Jiangxia Makeshift Hospital.

Her husband,Zeng Hongbing,was the deputy director of Skin Disease Prevention and Treatment Institute of Jiangxia District in Wuhan and participated in the fight against SARS 17 years ago.On the morning of April 10,Zeng Hongbing had chest pain while carrying protective clothing and disinfectant.In the evening,he suffered a heart attack and died at 4 am the next morning,at the age of 53.

The couple had their last photo taken by chance as they worked in the makeshift hospital for the 25th day

On February 15,Zeng Hongbing actively responded to the call of the Jiangxia District Headquarters for COVID-19 Prevention and Control and volunteered to deliver meals to the patients in the Jiangxia Makeshift Hospital.He and three other volunteers formed a delivery team.At peak times,nearly a thousand meals were delivered per day.

In order to serve the patients hot meals,he went to the hospital around 7 o’clock every morning,distributed meals for 5 inpatient areas,and waited for the nurses and volunteers to fetch the meals.

To avoid cross infection,Zeng Hongbing came up with a system allowing for orderly collection of meal boxes.Wang Juan,a member of the team,recalled that the system worked pretty well to March 10,the day when the makeshift hospital was closed.Sometimes Zeng would ask nurses about patients’ tastes.Then he gave the feedback to food providers.He said to his team members,“When the patients have an appetite for food,their conditions are improving.We should try our best to meet their needs.” According to Wang Juan,Zeng followed the procedures well and set an example in preventing cross-infection in the hospital.“I was the only woman on the team.He was always active in distributing the meals and took care of all the heavy work.

The couple’s last photo together鄧艷平與丈夫曾紅兵最后的合影

鄧艷平的手上，緊攥一張泛黃的三口之家合影照——那是在丈夫曾紅兵50 歲生日時拍的。

她沒法接受丈夫離去的現實，就這么攥著照片哭了三天。手機里還有一張夫妻合影照，那是3月10日，夫妻倆在江夏方艙醫院奮戰25 天后同事幫忙拍的。

丈夫曾紅兵生前是武漢市江夏區皮膚病防治所副所長，曾參加17年前的非典抗戰。4月10日上午，曾紅兵在搬運防護服、消毒水等防護物資后出現胸悶不適癥狀，晚上突發心臟病，次日凌晨4 時經搶救無效去世，年僅53 歲。

駐方艙25 天，偶然拍下最后的夫妻合影

2月15日，曾紅兵響應區抗擊新冠肺炎指揮部要求，請纓到江夏區方艙醫院負責給患者送餐，他與另3 名同志組成送餐小組，高峰時每天早中晚要送近千份餐。

為讓患者吃上熱飯，他每天早上7 點左右就趕到方艙醫院，分配好5 個病區的餐食，等待護士、志愿者們來領取分發。

為防交叉感染，曾紅兵設計出一套有序領餐模式。小組成員王娟回憶說，直到3月10日休艙再沒有差錯。有機會，他就與艙內護士交流，詢問患者口味，然后給配餐方提建議，他向小組成員們說：“患者想吃，說明病情在好轉，要盡量滿足康復需要。”王娟說，老曾特別注意操作流程，身先士卒做榜樣，避免艙內交叉感染，“我是組里唯一的女同志，分餐過程中他總在前面，搬運的重活都被他包了”。

3月1日，曾紅兵53 歲生日，在方艙醫院A 區負責給醫護人員發放防護用品的妻子鄧艷平，電話里給在C 區的丈夫送去祝福，但她怎么也沒想到這竟是丈夫的最后一個生日。3月10日，休艙后的白衣天使們一起拍照留影，鄧艷平看到了丈夫，拉著他拍下了這張合影。

疫情緊張，3月11日，出艙做完檢查后的曾紅兵，回到皮防所繼續值班。

硬扛身子戰疫，清理幫扶村上報表46 本

事發前幾天，隔離點上的鄧艷平得知丈夫胸悶，勸他上醫院檢查一下。曾紅兵卻說不必大驚小怪，“我是副所長，之前方艙戰斗落下的工作要補上來，等疫情結束再去醫院”。

“要知道這樣，我拖著他也要去醫院。”妻子鄧艷平哭著告訴我們。也是在這兩天，她才知道丈夫一直沒有丟下對口扶貧村上的抗疫復產，他一直忙著整理駐點大屋晏村的抗疫、扶貧報表，有46 本之多。

皮防所老所長陳光斌是曾紅兵的老戰友，一起工作過16年。“紅兵做事非常過細。”他說，作為皮防所主管麻風病癥的負責人，曾紅兵知道每個病人的飲食胃口、性格喜好。

村里鄉親流淚，感恩掛職5年的好書記

“聽到老曾去世的消息，我整夜沒能睡著，村里鄉親也都流淚。”大屋晏村婦聯主任聞曉泉含淚告訴我們，13日凌晨5 點就與村主任祝恒湊一道，帶著800 多位村民的囑托，趕來送曾書記最后一程。

聞曉泉說，曾紅兵掛職5年大屋晏村支部第一書記。他每個周一到村，周五回家，住村委會簡陋房間。一年有200 多天都跟村民一起干農活，謀劃村里脫貧。在他的精準幫扶下，大屋晏村精準扶貧對象22 戶共56 人 ，在2018年已全部實現脫貧。

“村里整潔了，路燈亮了、公路實現灣灣通，十幾口水塘整修得漂漂亮亮。”村主任祝恒湊說，大屋晏村村民永遠不會忘記這位帶著他們脫貧的第一書記。

March 1 was Zeng Hongbing’s 53rd birthday.His wife,Deng Yanping,who was in charge of distributing protective equipment to the medical workers in Area A of the hospital,sang “Happy Birthday” to her husband working in Area C on the phone.She had never thought it would be his last birthday.On March 10,the day when the temporary hospital was closed,all medics took photos together.Deng Yanping saw her husband and pulled him aside and had a picture taken.

On March 11,Zeng wrapped up his work at the makeshift hospital and had medical check.Then he went back to work at the Skin Disease Prevention and Treatment Institute of Jiangxia District.

He spared no effort in fighting against the epidemic and sorted out 46 reports on poverty alleviation for his assisted village

A few days earlier,Deng Yanping,who worked at a medical facility for quarantine,got to know her husband had chest discomfort,and asked him to see a doctor.However,Zeng Hongbing said there was no need to overreact.“I’m the deputy director of the institute.I must catch up on the work missed while I was in the makeshift hospital.I’ll see a doctor when the epidemic is over.”

“If I knew this would happen,I would have dragged him to hospital.” Deng Yanping told us,crying.She did not know that her husband had never put aside his work.He was engaged in the epidemic control and production resumption of the Dawuyan Village that was receiving paired assistance from his institute.He had been busy sorting out documents on the fight against the epidemic and poverty alleviation of the village and 46 report books were compiled.

Chen Guangbin,director of the institute,was Zeng Hongbing’s old comrade-in-arms who had worked with him for 16 years.“Hongbing was such a meticulous person,” he said.As the head of leprosy treatment section in the institute,Zeng Hongbing knew each patient’s eating habit,personality,and preferences.

The villagers shed tears of gratitude for Zeng,who served as their Party secretary for 5 years

“Having heard the news of Zeng’s death,I couldn’t fall asleep all night,and the villagers were all shedding tears.” Wen Xiaoquan,director of the Women’s Federation of Dawuyan Village,told us with tears in her eyes.At 5 am yesterday,she and Zhu Hengcou,the village director,on behalf of more than 800 villagers,rushed to attend the funeral of their Party Secretary Zeng.

According to Wen Xiaoquan,Zeng Hongbing was the first secretary of Dawuyan Village Branch of the CPC that had worked for five years.He went to the village every Monday and returned home in the city on Friday.He lived in a humble room of the Village Committee.For more than 200 days of a year,he did farm work with the villagers and helped them get rid of poverty.With his assistance,a total of 56 people in 22 households,had been lifted out of poverty in 2018.

“The village has become clean and tidy,with street lights on,roads widened and more than ten ponds renovated,” said Zhu Hengcou,the village director.The villagers in Dawuyan will never forget their first secretary who had led them out of poverty.(Translation: Chen Jiani)