TIANJIN -- After a battle of 52 days against COVID-19 in Wuhan, 37-year-old Shen Yuehao from northern China's Tianjin Medical University General Hospital shared her stories with students of Tianjin Medical University, also her alma mater, on International Nurses Day.

"I hope you future 'angels in white' may learn something from my experience, and dedicate yourselves to the nursing career in the future," said the head nurse of the hospital's respiratory intensive care unit.

A week ago, she received the May Fourth Medal, the top honor for young Chinese presented annually before the national Youth Day, for her bravery and dedication in the coronavirus fight.

Just as she was about to get on the train bound for her hometown in central China's Hunan Province to celebrate the Spring Festival with her parents for the first time in 11 years, an emergency call came.

Without hesitation, Shen volunteered to be among the first batch of 138 medics dispatched from Tianjin to Wuhan.

"It's my responsibility. I must show up where the country needs most," Shen said. Her family also sent their support.

Upon arriving at the designated hospital in Wuhan, she began working in the most dangerous "red zone" immediately as the head nurse.

In the ward, she was always the one nearest to patients, checking names, dispensing medicine, taking temperatures, monitoring blood oxygen saturation and taking care of their diet and daily life during her shifts.

"I needed to know all patients' conditions comprehensively so that I could assign specific works to each nurse," Shen said.

To make sure that every nurse was safe during their shift, Shen was always the first to arrive and the last to leave.

Wearing a protective suit all day long, she was drenched in sweat and sometimes fell short of breath and dizzy.

"The goggles would quickly fog up and blur my sight," Shen said. When giving injections to patients and doing some other delicate operations, she had to be more cautious and focused.

Growing up not far from Wuhan, she could understand some local dialects and became an interpreter between the patients and other nurses.

Facing the same enemy, doctors and patients forged a harmonious relationship.

"Every thank-you from patients is the great compliment to us," Shen said.

Besides the daily nursing work, Shen chipped in to transport oxygen cylinders -- each weighing over 50 kg -- to ensure an adequate oxygen supply for patients.

She and her colleagues had to move those "big guys" on a handcart at least five times during a shift. "Our clothes were soaked with sweat like coming out of a sauna."

To create a clean and safe working environment, she often carried a 10-kg machine loaded with disinfectant fluid to sterilize corridors, wards and offices.

"It's so heavy. The straps of the machine always left red marks on my shoulder," Shen said.

In China's battle against the novel coronavirus, high-quality nursing service has made great contributions to reducing the death rate. According to the National Health Commission, among the 42,600 medical workers dispatched to support virus-hit Hubei Province, about 28,600 were nurses.

On March 17, Shen returned to Tianjin after accomplishing her mission. After another 14 days of quarantine, she was allowed to be back on her daily work. Over the past month, she has been busy shuttling between patients' beds, checking their nursing records and asking if they needed anything.

It's the 11th International Nurses Day Shen celebrated since she became a nurse.

"I'm an ordinary person in an ordinary position. But life and death in the ICU has made me better understand how sacred and glorious a nurse's job is. I hope all COVID-19 patients will recover soon and everyone returns to their normal life," Shen said.