In the face of the threat of COVID-19, Fudan University has been closely monitoring the situation and mobilizing all resources at hand to prevent and control the virus.
Although the dim status quo of this battle is weighing heavily on people’s lives and minds, everyone including all faculty and staff, researchers and medics at Fudan University and its affiliated organizations, is working hard on his or her part to secure the safety of Shanghai citizens.
Medics at hospitals affiliated to Fudan University constitute an indispensable force in this battle. In addition to those who are working on the frontline in Wuhan, groups of medical experts from these hospitals have joined the virus control efforts at the Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, the bulwark institution in this endeavor.
On the Chinese New Year’s Eve, a holiday valued greatly by Chinese for family union, Song Yuanlin, Director of Respiratory Medicine at Zhongshan Hospital of Fudan was urgently summoned to treat a COVID-19 patient in critical condition at the Center. Song and other medics closely monitored the patient’s breathing until 4 a.m. the next morning to make sure all the patient’s vital signs were stable.
“We are always ready to assist the frontline medics,” said Song Yuanlin. “This is an honorable task and responsibility of a doctor.”
The Respiratory Medicine of Zhongshan Hospital plays a key role in this fight. Facing overwhelming workloads, including the treatment for a large number of patients with respiratory diseases and various patients from the fever clinic, the doctors have demonstrated an enormous amound of willpower and courage.
Dr. Ye Ling was among the first to sign up for this emergent rescue project at the Center and for the medical teams to be send to Wuhan for this bitter fight. He also volunteered to take over partial medical workload of one of his colleague who was a mother of two children.
On Jan. 21, doctors from Huashan Hospital of Fudan, including Professor Zhang Wenhong, Director of the Infectious Diseases Department; Mao Richeng, doctor from the Infectious Diseases Department; Zhang Youzhi, doctor from Respiratory Medicine and Li Xiantao, doctor from ICU formed the first medical expert team on virus control at the Center.
On Feb. 2, the second medical team from Huashan Hospital set out for a one-month virus fight at the Center. The members of this team include Zhao Xu, doctor from the Institute for Antibiotics; Wang Yu, Head Nurse from No. 5 Inpatient Area; Jin Lili, nurse from the central ICU, Fu Xiaofeng, the ICU Nurse-in-Charge from Pudong Branch and Wang Li, Senior Nurse of No. 87 Inpatient Area.
Feb. 2 also marked the 10th birthday of Dr. Zhao’s daughter, but Zhao had to rush to the emergency. What she could do was just a simple “Happy Birthday!” message to his daughter. The daughter’s response was “That’s all right daddy. I hope you can come home safe and sound”.
A few days earlier, when Wang Yu, Head Nurse from No. 5 Inpatient Area, asked for help with this emergency via her department’s Wechat group, she was deeply moved by the immediate replies from her colleagues who actively signed up for action regardless of their age or physical conditions.
To support this epidemic control, Jin Lili, nurse from the central ICU, canceled her travel plans at the beginning of the virus outbreak, since she has been ready for this fight with a determined belief that “as a medical worker, one must work on the frontline”. Such belief is shared by Zhao Xu, Wang Yu, Fu Xiaofeng, Wang Li and many other medics like them.
Among these medical workers are daughters, wives and mothers who have put their own safety behind partients’, and have thus risked their lives for the latter’s.
On the Chinese New Year’s Eve, doctors and nurses at the Children’s Hospital of Fudan University sent new year greetings to the patients, one of whom is the seven-year-old boy Doudou, the first child confirmed with COVID-19 in Shanghai.
After days of treatment, Doudou is now in a stable condition, but he still needs medical observation at the hospital. As Doudou’s father has also been confirmed with COVID-19, the boy’s mother was on the verge of a mental breakdown.
Zeng Mei, Director of the Department of Infectious Diseases and doctor with 25-year clinical experience, quite understands the psychology of these parents and she always tries to relieve the mother’s anxiety. “The child’s condition is good at present, please rest assured that we are doing everything we can to take care of him”.
To carry out rigorous medical observation on Doudou and other similar infected children, nurses have to enter the isolation wards every half an hour, which require them to put on and off the heavy protective outfits at least four or five times a day. They not only give medicine to the children, but also encourage them with the snacks they like.
Xia Aimei, Head Nurse of the Department of Infectious Diseases, said that in addition to medical care, to look after the living of the isolated children is also a part of the nurses’ work. “We are the mother of these children when their parents are absent.”
Tao Yonghong has been working in the Center since 1995. She has accumulated rich experience and knowledge in the prevention and control of epidemics such as SARS and H1N1. She said that working in the isolation wards was a huge challenge for both doctors and nurses, and that it was natural to feel anxious. But when working, she always tried to conceal these feelings, and has always been encouraging and consoling her colleagues.
Together with the medical workers who are working on the frontline, all departments of the university are working behind the scene to help prevent the virus from spreading.
At the gates to the campuses, the security personnel have been taking visitors’ temperatures and checking their IDs; at the campus hospitals, doctors have been working for teachers and students’ health; at the logistic departments, the staff have been hectic making inquiries to secure medical supplies.
On Jan. 22, the university set up a 14-day centralized quarantine area. Since its establishment, Rong Zhihui has not returned home. He needed to be on duty there 24 hours a day and could get some rest occasionally. He said, “I participated in the prevention of SARS, so I have experience. And I am willing to work on the frontline.”
The logistic departments has purchased a wide range of materials through various channels and gave priority to the front-line personnel while distributing them. For this they have made relevant rules and regulations to do the job properly and efficiently.
The university hospital issued a notice on January 21, requiring all employees to prepare to cancel their leave and return to work. In order to avoid cross infection between medical staff and patients, the hospital strictly measured every visitor’s temperature, disinfected their hands and inquired about their travels history and if they had close contact with people from Hubei province, the epicenter of the epidemic.
At the same time, Fudan University carried out meticulous inquiries to confirm the whereabouts of all of its faculty, staff and students and worked with the Shanghai Center for Disease Control and Prevention to update relevant information. Anyone showing symptoms of fever or coughing would be put under medical quarantine.
Preventative measures have been implemented across all campuses. All Fudaners are working together to secure the safety of the campuses and sparing no effort to fight the epidemic, hoping that everything will return to normal as soon as possible.
Editor: Deng Jianguo, Li Yijie
