Written by: JIANGLibo, LIU Peixiang
Translated by: SHENG Zixin
Edited by: William Mosteller
Date: 03-11
“No one is born brave, we just choose to be fearless. We will be your powerful backing in fighting COVID-19, ” said medical teams of theHarbin First Hospital Affiliated with HIT, the heroes who are helping in the fight against the novel coronavirus pneumonia outbreak in Hubei province.
For the love of selflessness
Xiaogan city is the second worst-hit area in the outbreak of coronavirus in Hubei province, apart from Wuhan, the contagion’s epicenter. While among Xiaogan, Hanchuan is the home to the most confirmed cases, severe and critical cases, and the highest mortality rate.In a bid to win the tough battle against virus, six medics from Harbin First Hospital Affiliated with HIT (hereinafter referred to as "Harbin First Hospital") participated in the third batch of medical teams supporting Hubei, including outstanding doctors and nurses from theICU's critical medicine department, respiratory department, emergency medicine, and so on. Du Jiwei, vice president of the hospital, served as the deputy leader of themedical team aiding Hubei, the commander of Hanchuan medical team, and the team leader of Harbin medical team.
As the third batch of medical personnel fromHeilongjiang province and the first batch from this hospital, they left their small home for alarge community and were dispatched to Xiaogan city, Hubei province.
“Go where the epidemic is, fight it till it perishes. I will always be ready to help the wounded and rescue the dead, not afraid of difficulties and dangers, toobey the command and meet my mission, and resolutely win the battle against virus!” At the ceremony of the expedition, the members solemnly swore this oath and were full of passion. They are determined to erect a monument of great love of theHeilongjiang medical team in Hubei.
With the great love and blessing of the people of Heilongjiang, on the night of February 12, the team comprising more than 100 medical workers from our hospital and 11 hospitals in 5 regions of the province arrived in Xiaogan City, Hubei Province.On that cold rainy night, the medical team from Xiaogan drove more than 60 kilometers to Hanchuan and began their work at local hospitals after putting down their luggage.
However, the front-line situation wasterrible. With over 600 confirmed cases including many severe patients, the local medics were overworked. What wasworse, professionals specializing in severe illness were insufficient.
"Time is tight, we have to get familiar with and get into the role as soon as possible," Du Jiwei saidin a brief meeting with the heads of the medical teams fromvarious regions. Then they established a temporary Party and government working group, as well as medical, nursing, sensory control, logistics, and other departments. All these departments were entrusted with tasks and responsibilities. They all did a part of the job, forming working systems and processes. The members of themedical team, nursing team, and infection control teams took charge of the relevant departments of theHanchuan People's Hospital, the ground zero of the anti-virus fight.
On arrival, they reshaped the flow of theICU in less than three daysinsix aspects:(1)to dividepollution[LM1] , semi-pollution, buffering, cleaning areas and so on in accordance with requirements; (2) to switch the third floor into a single room, making room for rescue; (3)to improve the first-aid conditions of two wards and 26 single rooms on the second and third floors; (4) to change prone-to-be-ill double rooms into single rooms; (5)to classify the patients according to the degree of severity, and implement hierarchical management[LM2] ;(6)to carry out unified management and specialized care of rescue equipment such as ventilators. This series of measures effectively reduced the possibility of infection in hospital, and laid the foundation for timely and efficient rescue of critically ill novel coronavirus patients.
Du Jiwei lead the medical team in a military-style management, featuring a gathering at 7:20 a.m. Some of members who live at the top of the hotel came downstairs to line up at 7 o'clock every morning for fear of being late. As such, they always vigorously combatted the pandemic, and havecomposed praise of the people's health.
For the “joy" ofHappy[LM3] Street
By necessity, the team transferred to the Happy Street’s branch of Hanchuan People's Hospital on Feb 26. Here were 160 plus cases ofeither mild patients discharged fromtheICU or ill people from other sick bays.
President Xi Jinping laid out “Four Concentrations”, which means“treating the infected in dedicated facilities by senior medical professionals from all over the country and with all necessary resources.” Guided by this principle, theHanchuan Medical Treatment Command Center optimized and integrated the existing wards, integrating five designated hospitals into two designated hospitals and three wards. As one of the three wards, the hospital at Happy Street is a seven-story building with 194 beds. Our team, headed by Du Jiwei, took over six floors except the operating room on the fourth floor. Although facing many more patients, our team still, based on their previous experiences, successful and comprehensively took responsibility of all thepatients.
Du once again stressed eighteen core medical systems, especially the shift handover and three-level ward round systems. In the meanwhile, Sun Lei, a doctor from theICU of Harbin First Hospitalwasin charge of the overall medical work as well as the ICU on the third floor. One person was responsible for each floor, such as, the seventh infection ward on the sixth floor was ruled by Li Bo, deputy chief physician of therespiratory department of Harbin First Hospital. In addition, the floor was divided into groups, with group leaders and detailed management. In terms of the overall management, the four-level duty system of medical treatment, nursing, administration, and logistics was also set up. In Li Bo's words, this 3B hospital has been upgraded into a3A hospital.
A total of 42 patients recovered and were discharged from thehospital after strict temperature measurement, nucleic acid detection, and CT assisted diagnosis on Feb 28.Thatday saw the most discharged patients, making the Happy Street recover itshappiness.
Mr. Zhang, a kidney transplant patient, tested positive for coronavirus on Jan 24. Given his low immunity, the team carried out tailored treatment and arranged a dedicated person to assist him daily. Finally, herecovered smoothly. "Thank Heilongjiang medical team and Hanchuan medical staff for illuminating our hearts with a light," he said. “Thank you for your selfless dedication, leaving hard work to yourself, and giving health to the patients... "
Mrs. Xiang, a 65-year-old patient with diabetic ketoacidosis, had also been infected with COVID-19, accepting arespirator to cure her critical illness. Sun Lei, Li Bo, Kan Xinxin, Shen Weichen, Ma Zhiming and other medics from Harbin First Hospital gave full treatment and nursing, snatching her back from the dead. Then she was transferred to the branch at Happy Street, and finally recovered. When she left thehospital, she thanked the Party and the government for sending good doctors from Harbin to Hanchuan!
TheEpidemic Prevention Headquarter of Hanchuan transferred 84 patients in two other wards to the hospital at Happy Street, accounting for 186 tallies. Since then, all confirmed cases have received centralized treatment, marking a periodical success—301 patients were caredfor, including 16 severe cases and 244 discharged from thehospital.
Inbound professionals of Harbin First Hospital opened a remote video consultation with the medical team to provide a"Harbin treatment plan" and strong technical backing.
As of March 10, there were only 26 patients in thehospital at Happy Street.
Medical team members said: As long as we unite to take science-based and targeted measures and fight the epidemic with confidence, we will win the battle against the epidemic.
