Mental health workers provide vital comfort(2)

Xiao Tongliang, another doctor with the team, said "hypertension, or high blood pressure, is what we worry about the most now."

Most people in the village, especially those aged 60 or older, were found to have high blood pressure, Xiao said.

He gave an example of an 86-year-old villager who was crying in her damaged house.

"Her blood pressure was very high, which could easily result in a stroke or rupture of a blood vessel in brain,"he said.

Xiao said hopefully through medicineand psychological counseling, the situation can be improved.

"I put the elderly lady on a chair, asked her to relax her whole body and let her mind go blank,"the doctor said. "Then I told her about my unfortunate experience in the earthquake five years ago to distract her attention.

"All of the work being done here is very primary, and a whole lot of therapy needs to be performed after the emergency period."

Among the medical team, four of the therapists are women.

"Their courage has surprised us,"said He, the leader. "Actually, the female therapists have their advantages in communicating and soothing people's nerves."

Special report: 7.0-magnitude earthquake jolts Ya'an, Sichuan