A lifetime of care: The doctor who never left a remote Chinese county

At 82, Lu Shengmei has spent more than half a century caring for the people of Jiaxian County in Yulin, northwest China's Shaanxi Province. A former pediatrician at Jiaxian County People's Hospital, she was awarded the national honorary title of “People's Health Worker.”

Lu Shengmei shares moving memories of her years serving the people of Jiaxian County, Shaanxi Province, at an event in 2025.

Fresh out of university in late 1968, Lu traveled alone from Beijing to Jiaxian, then one of Shaanxi's poorest counties. She stayed, often traveling long distances to treat patients in remote villages.

Many people have asked Lu: “Jiaxian was a famously poor county in Shaanxi back then. Why did you stay?” Her answer was simple: “They needed me more than anywhere else, and the people there trusted me.”

In those early years, Lu witnessed unsafe childbirth practices and a lack of basic medical care. Determined to change things, she trained local birth attendants in safer delivery techniques and worked to establish a dedicated pediatric department, which opened at the county hospital in 1983.

Her commitment went beyond the clinic. She kept her phone on around the clock, ready to respond to calls for help, even after retirement. Patients came to see her not just as a doctor, but as someone they could rely on.

Today, roads, village clinics and improved medical services have transformed healthcare in Jiaxian. Yet Lu continues to volunteer, mentor young medical professionals and serve her community.

For her, medicine has never been just a job. “Being a doctor is my profession, and serving the people's health is my life's mission.”