From a young age, Xiao Ying Liu knew she wanted to be a nurse. Growing up in a small village in Wuhan, China, she saw her grandmother’s chronic health issues worsen due to a lack of access to healthcare.
Heroes of Orbis: Xiao Ying
Xiao Ying has been a nurse since 1999. After 5 years at the Wuhan Aier Eye Hospital, Xiao was selected as one of medical professionals to do 2 weeks of hands-on training with Orbis. Enjoying her experience, she returned the next year to volunteer for Orbis, and eventually applied to become a staff nurse on the plane. The rest is history!
Xiao Ying has been a staff nurse on the Flying Eye Hospital since 2010.
Xiao Ying
Flying Eye Hospital Staff Nurse
I believe that all human beings should have the right to healthcare, regardless of race, religion, or financial status. This thought helped to draw me closer towards a professional career as a nurse.
Determined to improve health outcomes for those around her, she took an invitation from one of her friends to visit a facility for people with disabilities. Soon after she got involved with patients suffering from ear, nose, and eye problems, and eventually focused on ophthalmic nursing at the Wuhan Aier Eye Hospital.
A training collaboration between Orbis and Wuhan Aier Eye Hospital was Xiao's first contact with Orbis, but it wouldn't be her last! After training with Orbis for 2 weeks, Xiao applied for an English Nursing License program in Saudi Arabia, prompting her to study English every night to pass her exam. Of course, Xiao passed with flying colors and became a registered nurse, taking a position at an operating room in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
At the end of her two years in Riyadh, Xiao applied to be a staff nurse on the Flying Eye Hospital.
Flying Eye Hospital nurses Xiao Ying and Angela Purcell enjoy their lunch break on program in Trujillo, Peru in 2015.
Nursing Around the World
From Ghana to Chile, Peru to Barbados, Xiao Ying has traveled extensively with Orbis on the Flying Eye Hospital. She wears many hats while working, but her main role is to plan, manage, and execute the of teaching and training of local nursing participants during Orbis programs.
Xiao Ying
Flying Eye Hospital Staff Nurse
My work with Orbis is quite diverse, which means that I could not just be dedicated to working in the operating room or the clinical areas alone. The work consists of taking charge of leading a program, which in total takes a year of planning ahead with the local partners, with logistics and supply chain management to consider. In addition, I am also responsible for teaching and training the local hands-on nurse training participants as they rotate in the clinical areas.
Check out these photos of Nurse Xiao Ying throughout the years on various Orbis Flying Eye Hospital programs.
Nursing During Covid-19
Despite being on lockdown in her village in China, Xiao Ying continued to teach and train nurses around the world during the pandemic. As an infection control expert, Xiao's skillset was even more life-saving during the deadly pandemic. To aid her fellow international nurses working hard to curb the virus, Xiao Ying and her colleagues wrote an article on infection control to help nurses keep their patients and themselves safe from COVID-19.
Collaboration on the project was all done remotely and the paper was ultimately taught during lectures on Virtual Flying Eye Hospital programs in Zambia, India,
Orbis Nurse Xiao Ying Helps Colleagues Around the World Protect Themselves Against Coronavirus
Learn more about how Xiao Ying trained nurses in infection control and sterilization during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thank You, Xiao Ying
Thank you so much for your hard work year round. From your dedication to treating patients and training nurses during Orbis programs, to your ability to quickly pivot to virtual learning during the pandemic, we appreciate everything you do.
Nurse Xiao Ying is surely an Orbis hero!
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