"Florence Nightingale is the lamp lighting up my heart. I firmly believe that beautiful life shines with the spirit of selfless nursing." These were the words of Wang Yali who in 2005 received the Florence Nightingale Medal. This prestigious award is given by the International Committee of the Red Cross to "nurses who had given exceptional care to the sick and wounded in war or peace." Wang is Nursing Director of the People's Hospital of Dingxi City in northwest China's Gansu Province.

Wang was born and brought up in Dingxi City, then an impoverished area, in the heart of Gansu. In 1975, she was enrolled in the Gansu School of Nursing. She read Notes on Nursing by Florence Nightingale and was deeply impressed by Nightingale's humanitarian spirit.

On graduating, Wang began her career as a nurse in the People's Hospital of Dingxi City. Thirty years passed. Her vows of humanitarianism and devotion to duty accompanied her from being an ordinary nurse through Nurse-in-Chief and then on to Nursing Director.

In the spring of 2003 the whole country was in the grip of fear and Wang was in the frontline of the war against SARS.

She was busy with a correspondence course when the first SARS patient was admitted into her hospital. She rushed to the ward and spent the whole night working on sterilization and isolation. It was not until the next morning, that she paused to make a phone call to her husband to let him know what was happening. In what would turn out to be an understatement, she told him that she would be working inside the quarantined area for some time.

Twenty-two days later Wang finally emerged from quarantine. She had been fighting not only the SARS but also her own chronic ulcer. "I knew from the TV that many medical staff had contracted the SARS virus in the course of their work in Beijing and Guangdong Province. I knew only too well the risks of taking care of SARS patients. However, when the disease visited this remote city, I had no choice but to join in the fight. It was my duty," said Wang.

Under the care of Wang and her dedicated colleagues, four confirmed cases, one suspected case, and 73 patients under observation all survived the horrors of the SARS epidemic. It is a particular tribute to Wang's professionalism that none of the medical staff contracted the disease.

When she was elected as a deputy to the 17th National Congress, Wang Yali said this was her greatest honor and pledged to undertake the role seriously.

"My beliefs have never changed, even though I'm no longer young," said the 52-year-old delegate. "I will continue with my career providing a lifeline to those in need."

(China.org.cn, 17thcongress.org.cn by Huang Shan, October 12, 2007)