A sparkle among the firework

People always remember the hard work of doctors, nurses and other medical professionals when fighting an epidemic, but they sometimes forget about the ordinary workers who support the medical teams.

Wang Xiudong was one of the 20,000 medical workers from Guangzhou who voluntarily went to Wuhan, Hubei, and had stayed there for a month during the coronavirus outbreak in China. He is the ambulance driver of the second Chinese international emergency medical team appointed by the World Health Organization at Guangdong Provincial Emergency Hospital (aka the GD2H). As an emergency worker, Wang has offered medical support in many places, including this time, when he received the emergency call to stand by on Jan. 24, Chinese New Year’s Eve.

“Around 9:30 p.m., I received tons of WeChat messages in our EMT’s group chat about preparing to go to support Wuhan,” Wang said. Without any hesitance, he went back to Guangzhou from his hometown that night. This is his life as an ambulance driver — whenever and wherever the team needs him, he shows up.

Going to Wuhan was an adventure because no expert had identified the cause or a panacea for the virus. It was more dangerous for Wang, who is in his mid-50s and has diabetes and hypertension. However, Wang still applied to go and said that “I will go and will resolutely complete the mission when the country needs me.”

The reason for him to do so is his identity as a veteran of the People’s Liberation Army of China. 

Born in Shangdong, China, Wang joined the PLA at the age of 19 instead of going to a college. After joining the army for five years, Wang moved to Guangzhou with his army division after receiving the mission of supporting the PLA’s No. 177 Hospital, the predecessor of the GD2H.

Without any medical background but only with a hard-working mind, Wang started to learn to become a machinist to repair medical equipment, such as ambulances and medical beds. In 1988, he retired from the army and became an ambulance driver for the hospital. His ordinary life then became extraordinary, especially in 2002 when SARS was spreading in Guangzhou.

Wang recalled that SARS was in a mess at first, but he did not forget his identity as a veteran and an ambulance driver. He needed to pick up patients at least 20 times every day but never complained, said Dr. Lao Weidong, the leader of the EMT at the GD2H who has worked with Wang for more than 30 years.

His adamance and dedication made him stand out and consequently became a core member of the international EMT in 2017.

As the ambulance driver for the team, Wang is responsible for driving one of the six Chinese reinvented high-tech ambulances — which can transform into a temporary hospital all together and his has a mobile medical X-ray machine inside — and learning how to repair it and set up.

In 2015, Wang went to Malaysia for a global EMT exercise and training. He learned how to guide patients to receive corresponding emergency treatment and how to support medical staffs on testing. This is the most trivial work, but Wang never feels bored or tired. Lao said that many trainers acclaimed Wang as the most supportive member in the team because of his hard work.

Wang also kept up this good work during the time of fighting COVID-19 in Wuhan.

After receiving the confirmation to support, he spent more than 17 hours driving his ambulance to Wuhan. Without enough rest, Wang started to set up the temporary hospital in Wuhan International Expo with another driver — They were the ones who constructed the first Square Cabinet Hospital for receiving patients with wild symptoms.

Wang Xiudong (the fourth to the left in the picture), one of the members in the WHO-certified Emergency Medical Team of Guangdong Provincial Emergency Hospital, arrived in Guangzhou on March 19 after finishing the mission of providing medical support to Wuhan, the epicenter of COVID-19 in China. Photo courtesy: Wang Xiudong

“I felt super tired at first because we only had two drivers to set up the hospital, which normally required five people,” Wang said. “But we did not ask for help because we could save more materials like exposure suits and masks in this way.”

As soon as the first SCH started to accept patients, Wang got a more dangerous work: He was responsible for picking up unidentified patients and transferring their blood samples to the central hospital for testing.

“When the number of patients with severe symptoms was proliferating, I became more energetic than ever,” Wang said. “I felt like I was doing something that can save their lives.”

Every time he left the SCH, he had to wear masks and exposure suits and had to use tapes to ensure he covered his body comprehensively. Because he was too bloated to put on winter clothes inside and sweated excessively after putting on the suit, he decided to only wear a T-shirt inside so that he could put on everything as quickly as possible. His working time was rapid and not stable — Sometimes when he just finished sanitizing the ambulance and put off the suit, he might need to send another group of patients to Wuhan Central Hospital.

Because of this continuous high-strength work, Wang fell ill.

He started to cough and feel headache one night after transferring a few patients with severe symptoms to the central hospital. The team leader immediately stopped him from working and quarantined him in the hotel. Fortunately, it was at almost the end of the medical support, and he did not get COVID-19, Wang said.

“I believed that I was not infected,” Wang said. “Instead, one thing that I kept thinking about during the quarantine was how my colleagues were doing.” As the oldest member, he was concerned about the safety of the whole team.

Zhang Xi, one of Wang’s colleagues who has worked with him for five years, said that Wang always puts others before him, and he is always helpful and warmhearted.

After coming back from Wuhan, Wang is now ready to retire. He reflected his life as the most ordinary one that most middle-aged men have and said his existence in the EMT was nothing but to provide assistance. Nonetheless, Wang’s teammates said that he means a lot to the team.

“This is the last time that we can work together before he retires, which is a huge regret and loss for me and our emergency team,” said Lao, the EMT leader. “I sincerely thank all his contribution, and he is the hero to all of us.”

Wang is one of the ordinary workers during the epidemics, but he is sparkling because of his identity as an unsung lifesaver.