SCIO briefing on contributions of female workers on the frontline of epidemic control
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E-mail China.org.cn, March 11, 2020
Guangming Daily:
My question goes to Ms. Yuan. As a medical worker who fought against the SARS outbreak, did you feel a lot of pressure when you received this mission? What have you done to prevent medical workers from being infected and bring everyone home safely? Thank you.
Yuan Yadong:
To be honest, as head of the team, I feel pressure. My personal safety is not the most important thing but the safety of my team is of crucial importance. Every member of my team is someone's family member. Some are sons or daughters, some have just had kids and some have postponed their marriages. Many of them are young people born in the 1980s and 1990s. It is the first time they have faced this type of major emergency and have left home to help Wuhan. So it's my responsibility to bring everyone home safely. They call me Mama Yuan and look to me as a mentor. So it's a lot of pressure. However, I can only turn pressure into motivation and treat prevention of hospital-acquired infection as the work that has to be done in a specific and more detailed manner.
First, in addition to giving medical workers repeated training and posting prevention measures on the wall, we focus more on practices. Medical workers are required to wear protective suits properly and take them off in a proper manner to prevent infection. We have to make sure that all medical workers are checked, monitored and reminded by hospital-acquired infection prevention experts when they enter and exit the ward and during their time in the ward so that no mistakes can happen.
Second, we also work with local hospitals to optimize the procedures for preventing hospital infection. For example, at the entrance of the wards we have set up a buffer zone. We have to strengthen disinfection in places such as the laundry room, the disinfection room, the laboratory medicine department and the rest area for medical workers.
Third, in terms of accommodations, we asked hotels to strengthen their disinfection especially in public areas like corridors and elevators as well as doorknobs. We asked that all team members take their temperature twice a day and report them on a daily basis. I will inquire about their condition if they report any abnormalities and I have become their de facto team doctor.
We have taken all kinds of factors into consideration and given priority to prevention so as to ensure no personnel are infected. Thank you.
Shou Xiaoli:
It reminds me of the head of another medical team who read a letter written by a husband to his wife who was sent to the frontline at a press conference a few days ago. The letter expressed the husband's wish for the wife's safe return. I think it is also everyone's wish that all medical workers return home safely. Now the floor is open for more questions.
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