高龄医生愈后重返抗疫战场，人间善良莫过于此

》》》》》》一键领取入口《《《《《《

I was very afraid that I would be writing an obituary, but I'm thrilled to report that Dr David Gullett, an 80-year-old physician in my hometown of Clarksville, Tennessee survived a harrowing attack of the Covid-19 virus and has quickly returned to helping his patients.  
今天这篇文章写给一位伟大的医生——大卫·古利特。大卫在我们的家乡田纳西州克拉克斯维尔工作，我们的家乡先前遭遇了新冠病毒侵袭，他在看护病人时被感染。动笔前，我很怕这篇文章会成为他的讣告，好在他熬了过来，康复后还迅速回到岗位帮助其他病人。得知他平安无事，我真的欣喜若狂。
David and his wife Paula built a house next door to my parents' house in the early 1970s and have been great neighbors ever since.  As a teenager, I was too stupid to get to know them. But I've been honored to talk with them many times in the last few years.  
20世纪70年代初，大卫与他的妻子宝拉建了一栋房子，就在我父母家隔壁，从此这对伟大的夫妇就成为了我们的邻居。十几岁时，我很愚笨，没能好好去了解他们，不过最近几年，我与他们聊过很多次，荣幸之至。
When my father died two and a half years ago, the Gulletts were a rock supporting my mother. I don't think she would have been able to get through it without their love and support.  
大约两年半以前，我的父亲去世，是这对夫妻有力地支持了我的母亲。我相信，如果没有他们二人的关爱与帮助，我母亲不可能渡过那段艰难时光。
Dr Gullett caught the virus from a patient. He became sick on April 24 and had to be rushed to the hospital's emergency room on May 8. Making things even worse for the family, Paula's elderly mother died on May 9.  
大卫从患者身上感染了新冠病毒，4月24日起，他的身体不断虚弱，5月8日当天被紧急送往医院急诊室。宝拉年迈的母亲又于隔天去世，这简直是雪上加霜。
David downplays the terrible experience, but his daughter Leigh tells me how severe the danger was:
生病期间的糟糕经历，大卫自己讲得轻描淡写，是他的女儿丽告诉我，她父亲当时的情况有多严重。
"When I was driving him to the emergency room, I did not know if he would live through this or not. I knew Dad would not ask to go to the ER unless it was extremely serious."
“开车送父亲去急诊室的路上，我根本不知道他是否能撑过去，因为以父亲的性格，若非迫不得已，他是绝对不会开口说要去医院的。”
"His symptoms were high fever at the beginning, chest pains, shortness of breath, having a hard time breathing, very unsteady on his feet. He wasn't taking any liquids in. He had not been eating for several days.  Extremely weak. I remember stopping at a red light and looking over at him. His eyes were just closed. You just don't know what is about to happen. You don't know the situation and how bad it is. You hear these horrible case studies and Dad is in the high-risk category of being 80 and it was really terrifying," Leigh said.
丽说：“他一开始是发烧胸痛，喘息急促，呼吸困难，脚也站不稳，几天下来一口饭都没吃，一滴水都没喝，虚弱到极点。我在等红灯时回头看他，发现他闭着双眼，我不知道接下来会发生什么……你根本想象不到当时的情况有多糟糕，况且那些可怕的病例我们都听说过，我父亲已经80岁了，属于高风险人群……想想真的令人后怕。”
The hospital found that he had blood clots throughout his body, even one on his heart. If any of them had come loose, he could have died instantly. With his usual downplaying he said: "It wasn't a very fun experience. When I lay there with my legs full of clots that could break off and go to my lungs, it didn't help me at all. But as the days went by, I felt like I was a little closer to pulling through." He was finally released after six days in the hospital.
对比他的女儿，大卫的口述却还是一贯轻描淡写，他告诉我，他们到达医院后，医生发现他全身有血块，甚至蔓延到了心脏。随便哪一块松动，他都会立刻死亡。“当时我躺在那里，双腿满是血块，指不定哪块脱落后会进入我的肺部，这真不是什么有趣的经历，不过之后的几天里，我每天都会多那么点信心，觉得自己能熬过去。”最终，大卫在住院第七天康复。
Leigh said that the scariest thing was not being allowed to see him or know what was happening. She would call the hospital and no one would get back to her. In Clarksville, as in the rest of the country, elderly patients are dying alone in nursing homes, unable to see their families. 
丽还在采访中提到，对她来说，最可怕的事不是医院不允许她探病或得知父亲的病情，而是自己没能见到父亲最后一面：老年病患来不及见到家属就在病房中独自离去，这种事屡见不鲜，不止在克拉克斯维尔，全国各地皆如此。
Clarksville is having a hard time with the virus. Many businesses are closed.  Schools are closed. Many people who were already having financial problems have lost their jobs or their small businesses and can't pay their bills. About 6 percent of those tested in the county have been positive for the virus. The hospital has two whole floors devoted to coronavirus patients.
疫情当下，克拉克斯维尔经历了艰难时刻，企业纷纷倒闭，学校被迫停课，原本面临财政危机的人，有的丢了工作饭碗，有的赔了小本生意，身缠高额账单。纵观全县，做过核酸检测的人中只有大约6%的人显示为阳性，医院整整两层楼都被腾了出来，专门治疗新冠病毒患者。
Leigh said that Dr Gullett started to prepare paperwork for his patients within an hour of returning home from the hospital, even though he was weak and still had clots in his legs. (The US medical system requires such a huge amount of paperwork from physicians that Leigh says that her parents often spend their day off work going through it.) After a few days, he returned to treating patients in his office.
丽在采访中说，大卫出院时身体仍然虚弱，腿部血块也没完全消退，结果回家后还不到一小时，他就开始处理病人的文书工作，几天之后，大卫便重返办公室，继续接待病人。（据丽称，美国医疗系统下，医生需要完成大量文书工作，大卫夫妇常常会牺牲休息日来处理文件。）
Although they are very modest, I've heard that the Gulletts have devoted their lives to helping people in the city. At a time of life when most physicians have retired to travel the world or play golf, both David and Paula work long hours every day in his office treating patients. Very unusually, they treat many patients for free and have never once, in 52 years practicing medicine, used legal avenues to collect the unpaid debt of any patient. In addition to working full time, Dr Gullett volunteers at the "Good Samaritan" charity clinic to help those in need in Clarksville.
大卫夫妇为人处事谦虚低调，我还是能从旁人口中听说，他们毕生都在致力于帮助城里人，大多数医生退休后都会出国旅旅游，打打高尔夫，但大卫和宝拉却选择整日守在办公室里接待病人，很多病人的治疗费用他们一次都没收过，这点更是不同寻常。在长达52年的从医生涯中，他们从没利用过法律渠道去索要任何一位病患未能支付的医疗费用。除了全职工作，大卫还会主动去“乐善好施”慈善诊所帮助其他病人。
They are known for helping people who can't pay their bills. For example, they paid for a new roof when a tornado damaged the house of a small business owner who had worked hard all his life but couldn't afford homeowner's insurance. Many of their patients are poor, so the Gulletts help them pay for electricity, or water, or dentist bills. They give away more than half their income.
他们接济穷困居民的事也人人皆知。有一次，龙卷风吹坏了一户人家的屋顶，住户是做小买卖的商人，这辈子都在奋斗打拼，得知他支付不起修理费用，大卫夫妇便帮他垫了款；对于那些家境贫困的病人，夫妻二人还会帮他们知父水电费或看牙费。他们拿出一半以上的收入来帮助他人。
To me, Dr David Gullett and his wife Paula personify what is meant by "good people". They have devoted their lives to helping others. Like many doctors in China and other countries, he almost gave his life to help his patients.
对我而言，大卫·古利特医生和她的妻子宝拉完美诠释了何为“善良之人”。他们毕生都在致力于帮助他人。在中国和其他国家，有很多医生几乎将自己的一生都奉献给了他们的病人，大卫也是如此。
Why do they do it? 
他们这样做是为了什么？
Leigh said that her parents taught her: "If we did not work, we would have nothing to give."
丽在采访中说，她的父母曾经告诉过她：“治病救人，是我们能对社会做出的唯一贡献。”
Paula said: "David and I both want to feel like our lives have been useful and have a purpose. We want our lives to be a ministry and a blessing to others. We just know we are exactly where we are supposed to be, doing exactly what we are supposed to be doing with our lives. Hopefully, we can be a help to people who cross our path."
宝拉说：“大卫和我都想让我们的生活能有所价值，有所追求；想让我们活着的每一天都在帮助他人，祝福他人。我们只是知道自己应该怎样做，日子应该怎样过。在生命中相逢的人如果有难，我们能伸手帮一把，这就是我们最希望的。”