Nightingale Volunteer Service Team

A poster posted by Nanchang Nightingale Volunteer Service Team on International Nurses Day

May 12 – International Nurses Day (top left)

Nanchang Nightingale Volunteer Service Team：

"Serving with Compassion, Giving with No Regrets."

Founded by seventeen retired nurses in 2000, Nanchang Nightingale Volunteer Service Team is dedicated to providing nursing service to patients. But in Jiangxi Cancer Hospital, it has a special mission carried out not by professional nurses but by cancer survivors. They become volunteers, or more specifically, therapists after recovery, working hard to comfort the ones who are currently going through cancer treatment. 

At the time I visited Nanchang city, this special squad was on a break, so I had to talk to one member on the phone. “Because most of our members were once cancer patients,” she spoke in a vibrant tone typical of Nanchang locals, “We take a break from July to August and from January to February and do our work for the rest of the year. We need to take care of ourselves before serving others.”

Her name is Peng Xuemei. Like the rest of her comrades, she used to have cancer. Apparently, she made a good recovery after surgery. Greatful for having survived cancer, she decided that she wanted to give back to society, so she joined the Nanchang Nightingale Volunteer Service Team. “After all, I had no other things to do after retirement,” she joked with humility.

Having fostered strong collaborative ties with the Red Cross Society of Nanchang and the hospital, the team is permitted to enter the wards. “We’ve been in their positions before. We know exactly what the patients are feeling. It’s important to keep them in a good mental state so that they can recover better.” The members listen to the woes of the patients, share experience of treating cancer, teach the family how to care for the patients, and even play gigs in the wards with melodica. 

In our short conversation, a name consistently stuck out. It was Liu Fengxiang, the name of the team leader, the name that appeared on numerous headlines and the honor list of Good Samaritans of China. Peng spoke about Liu with an invariable tone of admiration, “I joined the team because of her. She was the real role model. She would not even take a break when we are away.” 

It was hard to believe that Liu was once a cancer patient. Born in 1955, she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, which metastasised the year after surgery. At the same time, Liu received a call from a cancer patient from Fuzhou, who asked Liu to take her to do medical examinations. She was estranged from her family and had no one to take care of her. Liu took her home without hesitation and promised to fight against cancer together. The patient survived for three extra years with renewed hope, and Liu was deeply inspired by their shared experience. As soon as she made initial progress on recovery in 2008, she threw herself into public service. Her good deeds spread all over Nanchang: in hospitals, in houses of patients and in nursing homes. She approaches patients with the precise amount of understanding and kindness they need, always giving good advice and help. Aptly dubbed as “mother Liu”, she even cooked for patients who were on their own. Up till 2025, she had worked for over 8000 hours.

The only regret was that Liu was too busy to talk to me. The moment I’m writing, she is probably organizing another public service event, visiting some patients, or inspiring many people around her…