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邓艳平与丈夫曾红兵最后的合影

邓艳平的手上，紧攥一张泛黄的三口之家合影照——那是在丈夫曾红兵50 岁生日时拍的。

她没法接受丈夫离去的现实，就这么攥着照片哭了三天。手机里还有一张夫妻合影照，那是3月10日，夫妻俩在江夏方舱医院奋战25 天后同事帮忙拍的。

丈夫曾红兵生前是武汉市江夏区皮肤病防治所副所长，曾参加17年前的非典抗战。4月10日上午，曾红兵在搬运防护服、消毒水等防护物资后出现胸闷不适症状，晚上突发心脏病，次日凌晨4 时经抢救无效去世，年仅53 岁。

驻方舱25 天，偶然拍下最后的夫妻合影

2月15日，曾红兵响应区抗击新冠肺炎指挥部要求，请缨到江夏区方舱医院负责给患者送餐，他与另3 名同志组成送餐小组，高峰时每天早中晚要送近千份餐。

为让患者吃上热饭，他每天早上7 点左右就赶到方舱医院，分配好5 个病区的餐食，等待护士、志愿者们来领取分发。

为防交叉感染，曾红兵设计出一套有序领餐模式。小组成员王娟回忆说，直到3月10日休舱再没有差错。有机会，他就与舱内护士交流，询问患者口味，然后给配餐方提建议，他向小组成员们说：“患者想吃，说明病情在好转，要尽量满足康复需要。”王娟说，老曾特别注意操作流程，身先士卒做榜样，避免舱内交叉感染，“我是组里唯一的女同志，分餐过程中他总在前面，搬运的重活都被他包了”。

3月1日，曾红兵53 岁生日，在方舱医院A 区负责给医护人员发放防护用品的妻子邓艳平，电话里给在C 区的丈夫送去祝福，但她怎么也没想到这竟是丈夫的最后一个生日。3月10日，休舱后的白衣天使们一起拍照留影，邓艳平看到了丈夫，拉着他拍下了这张合影。

疫情紧张，3月11日，出舱做完检查后的曾红兵，回到皮防所继续值班。

硬扛身子战疫，清理帮扶村上报表46 本

事发前几天，隔离点上的邓艳平得知丈夫胸闷，劝他上医院检查一下。曾红兵却说不必大惊小怪，“我是副所长，之前方舱战斗落下的工作要补上来，等疫情结束再去医院”。

“要知道这样，我拖着他也要去医院。”妻子邓艳平哭着告诉我们。也是在这两天，她才知道丈夫一直没有丢下对口扶贫村上的抗疫复产，他一直忙着整理驻点大屋晏村的抗疫、扶贫报表，有46 本之多。

皮防所老所长陈光斌是曾红兵的老战友，一起工作过16年。“红兵做事非常过细。”他说，作为皮防所主管麻风病症的负责人，曾红兵知道每个病人的饮食胃口、性格喜好。

村里乡亲流泪，感恩挂职5年的好书记

“听到老曾去世的消息，我整夜没能睡着，村里乡亲也都流泪。”大屋晏村妇联主任闻晓泉含泪告诉我们，13日凌晨5 点就与村主任祝恒凑一道，带着800 多位村民的嘱托，赶来送曾书记最后一程。

闻晓泉说，曾红兵挂职5年大屋晏村支部第一书记。他每个周一到村，周五回家，住村委会简陋房间。一年有200 多天都跟村民一起干农活，谋划村里脱贫。在他的精准帮扶下，大屋晏村精准扶贫对象22 户共56 人 ，在2018年已全部实现脱贫。

“村里整洁了，路灯亮了、公路实现湾湾通，十几口水塘整修得漂漂亮亮。”村主任祝恒凑说，大屋晏村村民永远不会忘记这位带着他们脱贫的第一书记。

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)