The 45th Florence Nightingale Award Meeting was held on September 15th in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Zhao Qinghua, deputy director of the nursing department with the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, was the one of the five Chinese nurses among the 36 nurses to receive the award.

Zhao Qinghua has been engaged in nursing care for 33 years. She not only took part in the rescue work of crisis events of SARS, earthquakes and swine flu, but also established the Chongqing Red Cross’s first Nurse Volunteer Team.

The International Red Cross established the Florence Nightingale Award as the highest international honor for the field of nursing. It is given every two years and China has had 68 winners since 1983. (CQNEWS)