She was posthumously awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 10 January 1944 after she died of wounds from rescuing soldiers in a burning hospital in Kiev on 6 November 1943.

[1] Pushina was born on 13 November 1923 as the ninth child to a Ukrainian peasant family in Turkmachi, Udmurtia within the Soviet Union.

After graduating from school in 1939 she entered paramedic courses in Izhevsk, the capital of the Udmurtia region, despite several members of her family not approving of her career choice.

After graduating from medical school she was assigned in January 1942 to work in Feldsher-Obstetric office in Kekoran village, where she took on tasks ranging from pediatrics to obstetrics.

On the morning of 6 November German bombers launched an air raid on the town, with one of the bombs dropped hitting the hospital.