By Kim Minji

"It was touching to see everyone band together to work behind the scenes."

So said 2nd Lt. Kwak Hye-min, a nurse who cared for COVID-19 patients at Armed Forces Daegu Hospital in Gyeongsan, Gyeongsangbuk-do Province.

On March 3, Kwak graduated as a member of the Korea Armed Forces Nursing Academy's 60th class and was promptly assigned to the military hospital, which was designated to cater to victims of the pandemic.

Founded in 1967, the academy also marked a milestone this year as its 75 graduates for 2020 were the first class to be all deployed to the same place. Amid extensive media coverage of the coronavirus, the graduation ceremony got heavy attention.


Despite developing their physical capacities as soldiers and a sense of duty as nurses after spending four years at the academy, the graduates still found it hard to care for patients wearing personal protective equipment in isolation wards.

Kwak said she received a lot of support and courage from medical staff, patients and people.

"Medical professionals like doctors and nurses have received much of the spotlight, but at the hospital, many staff work behind the scenes to help COVID-19 patients recover," she said. "This assignment enlightened me to how numerous hospital staff like technicians doing CT scans or X-rays or staff examining sound pressure facilities are working behind the scenes while risking infection. I found it touching."

Kwak on April 10 returned to her unit after completing her 39-day deployment and underwent two weeks of self-quarantine.

"I feel terrible for concluding my mission without seeing the first patient I tended to recover and being discharged from the hospital," she said. "We were lifted by the many people who sent us coffee, handwritten letters and even thousand paper cranes, as such people were the driving force for us to quickly overcome the coronavirus pandemic."

She said she feels bad about the recent surge of infections at clubs in Seoul's Itaewon neighborhood. "Though it was a short period, I have the experience of caring for COVID-19 patients in Daegu," she said.

"If assigned to work at a hospital (for pandemic patients) again, I will do my job better."


kimmj7725@korea.kr