Chapter 709: Health Center Plan
"Of course, she is definitely not capable of doing something as serious as surgery."
Wang Jianguo scratched the back of his head, and a few stubborn hairs stood up on top of his head.
"But there are still many headaches, fevers, bruises and burns in our village. Last month, widow Zhang had acute gastroenteritis and had to pull a cart for 20 miles..."
His voice suddenly softened and his eyes swept over the faded "Health Center Construction Plan" on the wall.
"Comrade Xiaohua said that as long as we have basic disinfection equipment and common medicines, we can prevent 90% of emergencies."
The metal cabinet in the corner of the office suddenly creaked. Director Song reached out, opened the cabinet door, and pulled out a brown paper bag with a label of "Medical Application".
The hemp rope at the mouth of the bag had long been worn white, and inside it were seven returned documents, each of which had the words "Insufficient staff, approval suspended" written on it.
Seeing this, Wang Jianguo hurriedly took out a small notebook from his arms, and the wormwood leaves between the pages fell out:
"I have another idea! Pharmacist Chen from the city's herbal medicine company is my childhood friend. He is best at mixing and matching herbs, and I heard that he is currently researching how to use wild herbs from our Great Northern Wilderness to treat diseases."
He opened the book, which contained crooked drawings of herbs:
"I wrote to ask him. He has long wanted to come here to investigate! If we invite him, he can teach the girls in the village how to identify and collect herbs, and he can also make cheap and effective prescriptions."
"Director Song, think about it. We already have nurses and pharmacists. Let's recruit a few more skilled girls as apprentices..."
The roar of a tractor came from outside the window, startling a flock of white pigeons.
Wang Jianguo's words came to an abrupt halt, and three pairs of eyes looked out the window at the same time - in the distant fields, several villagers were spraying pesticides with medicine boxes on their backs, and the slender figure of one of them was particularly conspicuous.
Director Song's fingers unconsciously stroked the red seal on the document, and he suddenly remembered that last month, Mr. Liu coughed up blood and endured it for three days before going to the clinic, which eventually delayed his treatment.
"What you said..."
Director Song's voice trembled a little.
"Can it really work?"
Wang Jianguo immediately straightened his back, and the patches on his overalls gleamed in the sunlight.
"Director Song, when have we in the Great Northern Wilderness ever been afraid of difficulties? As long as you nod, I will bring Comrade Xiaohua to discuss it with you in detail tomorrow! Venue, medicinal materials, manpower, we will solve them one by one!"
He turned to look at Zhao Shuzhuo, only to find that he was staring out the window in a daze, with a gentle curve unconsciously appearing at the corner of his mouth.
Director Song's hand holding the red ink pen suddenly tightened, and the tip of the pen left a blob of ink on the report, as if he was feeling a turbulent emotion.
As soon as Wang Jianguo finished speaking, he stood up suddenly as if he was struck by an electric current, and the old office chair made a harsh sound on the blue brick floor.
The morning light penetrated the dusty glass windows, casting a mixture of light and dark shadows on his excitedly red face. His reading glasses slid to the tip of his nose, and he didn't even bother to straighten them.
"Jianguo, are you telling the truth?"
Director Song's voice trembled slightly with excitement. He grabbed Wang Jianguo's hand, and the calluses on his palms pressed tightly against each other.
Those hands, which were always holding pens to review documents, were now trembling slightly with excitement.
"If that's the case, we can build this clinic in minutes!"
His eyes were burning, as if he had already seen the scene of the health center being established, and that the villagers no longer had to brave the wind and snow and travel several miles to seek medical treatment.
However, this joy only lasted for a moment. Director Song let go of Wang Jianguo's hand, and his brows suddenly knitted tightly, with the wrinkles on his forehead twisted into the shape of the Chinese character "川".
He paced back and forth, the hem of his Zhongshan suit swaying with his steps, kicking up the fine dust on the ground.
"But,"
He stopped and his fingers unconsciously stroked the enamel cup on the desk. The gap on the edge of the cup hurt his fingertips.
"There are only two of them. That's too few people."
His eyes swept over the mottled "Plan for the Construction of a Health Center" on the wall. It was a blueprint written with great hope three years ago, but now it has become empty talk due to the lack of people and medicine.
“Think about it,”
When Director Song turned around, the sunlight outside the window shone on the white hair at his temples.
"How can two people handle daily consultations, prescription medicines, and nursing care? What should we do when there are a lot of sick people during the busy farming season?"
The office fell into a brief silence. Only the ticking sound of the clock in the corner was particularly clear in the silence.
Director Song reached out and straightened the crooked photo frame. It was a group photo of the commune's commendation meeting last year. Most of the medical staff sitting in the front row have now been transferred.
There was some helplessness in his voice:
"No matter how experienced Comrade Yang Xiaohua and Pharmacist Chen are, they can't work around the clock. It would be best to find some more people and train our own medical team from scratch."
As he spoke, he took out a yellowed notebook from the drawer. The words "Health Center Construction Plan" on the title page had faded.
"I have already calculated it,"
He opened the notebook, which was filled with dense records of his past attempts and failures.
“At least five permanent staff are needed to ensure the normal operation of the health center.”
His fingers traced across the lines of crossed-out writing.
"But in recent years, there are too few medical staff willing to come to Beidahuang..."
However, a glimmer of hope soon ignited in his eyes:
"But if we can select some young girls from the village to learn from Yang Xiaohua and the pharmacist, it would be a good idea. I just don't know..."
He raised his head and looked back and forth between Wang Jianguo and Zhao Shuzhuo.
“Are they willing to take the lead in this training?”
The morning light slanted into the office, casting alternating light and dark stripes on Zhao Shuzhuo's patched overalls.
He stood by the window, listening to the conversation between Wang Jianguo and Director Song. His Adam's apple rolled several times but he never interrupted.
The green radish in the corner of the wall was drooping, and the thin layer of dust on the leaves trembled slightly with his occasional breathing.
It was not until Director Song expressed his concern about "finding more manpower" that he took half a step forward, the tip of his shoe rolling over the chalk on the ground, making a slight crisp sound.
"Director Song,"
Zhao Shuzhuo's voice was hoarse from being worn by the cold wind, and he reached out to adjust the crooked bicycle bell.
Wang Jianguo helped him fix it before he went out this morning.
"Jianguo had already thought about it yesterday."
His eyes swept across the faded clinic construction plan on the wall. The words crossed out in red pen seemed to still carry the resentment from three years ago.
Director Song pushed up his reading glasses that had slid to the tip of his nose, revealing the fine wrinkles at the corners of his eyes:
"What do you think?"
Zhao Shuzhuo took out a crumpled piece of paper from his canvas bag. It was the name list that he and Wang Jianguo had written last night under the kerosene lamp.
The edge of the paper was fuzzy from being twisted by fingers, and on it was written the name of the village girl in pencil:
"You see, He Yushui is very skillful and has never made any mistakes in accounting at the supply and marketing cooperative."
"Shen Chunhua's eldest daughter Cuilan was able to do the work of three strong laborers during the autumn harvest last year. And the youngest daughter of the Zhang family is able to learn to read quickly and has a good memory..."