Nurse dispenses free emergency advice

While most stalls sell food and goods, the one set up by Xiong Liang teaches people how to perform emergency rescue acts such as cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and artificial respiration.

Xiong, 46, is a senior nurse at Hunan Children's Hospital. Since June 15, she has operated a stall during weekends along the sidewalk near Liuyang Lake in Changsha, Hunan province, to teach the public important lifesaving skills.

In that time, she has taught more than 12,000 people lessons on emergency rescue. The idea came to Xiong more than two years ago when she was asked to perform such skills at a kindergarten event for her daughter.

She found that most parents had little knowledge about such skills, so she thought about teaching them in public.

She bought equipment such as a mannequin for people to perform CPR, a yoga mat, two posters and lights.

"I am not a particularly outgoing person and I had many concerns. I was afraid whether people would understand what I was doing, whether I would be criticized and whether they would think that I was showing off," she said.

Her son at first also questioned the need, saying that he has already learned such skills at school.

Xiong explained the reasons, saying performing CPR on a mannequin is different from learning the skills from books, which also helped her cast off the doubts in her head.

She was worried people might not be interested, but surprisingly, after she explained to pedestrians what she was doing, many of them stopped and showed a strong interest.

The first session lasted more than two hours. Xiong said she had a hoarse voice after talking too much, so she bought a loudspeaker, which drew more attention during later sessions.

It might look easy when seeing others doing CPR, but doing it yourself requires skill, Xiong said. Therefore, she often holds people's hands to show them the right movement and how hard and fast they should press.

Her son also often comes to the stall as an observer and offers his mother suggestions on how to make the lessons better and more understandable.

Xiong said one primary school pupil has impressed her the most by coming to her stall almost every week. The pupil has mastered the skills, but he forgets them, so he often revisits, Xiong said.

As the weather has gotten colder, Xiong has moved her stall indoors to the Changsha Library.

Some of her colleagues and friends have been inspired by her move and have started their own stalls.

Xiong said she has grown a lot from teaching the lessons.

"I am much better at knowing how to communicate with strangers and teach the public such skills in an easily understood way. I am also mentally stronger," she said.

Zhou Lingzhu, who lives in Changsha, listened to Xiong's lessons on Dec 14.

"You never know when accidents might happen, so such knowledge becomes very important when it is necessary," she said. "It is a wonderful thing if I can save others with the skills, and I will come every week."