Fighting the Epidemic Through the Lens: A Couple's Promise in a Fangcang Hospital – Watching TV After the Pandemic
During the work of staff at Wuhan Huabiao Fangcang Hospital, there is a couple, although they don’t treat and save patients, but they work together with medical staff every day, close contact with patients, undertake a heavy cleaning and sanitation task – they are Chen Wan and Di Hualian from Han Yang Environmental Sanitation Group.
“After this is over, we will be at home, relying on watching TV.” This ordinary thing that used to be just a matter of everyday life has now become the common wish of the couple.
On the morning of February 16th at 9:00 AM, Di Hualian began simple fitness exercises in the accommodation room of the Huabiao Fangcang Hospital’s supporting personnel, this was a promise made with her husband – both were to keep themselves healthy. Although she had worked the night shift until 1:00 AM this morning and only slept at 3:00 PM, the habit of working shifts had made it impossible for her to sleep for too long.
Her husband, Chen Wan, in a room not far from her, although the rooms of the couple were only a few steps apart, for safety protection, people cannot move and communicate randomly, in order to consider each other, they also try to minimize contact, this was also one of their agreements.
The work in the Fangcang Hospital is somewhat different from their original work. ‘We used to be outdoors, each of us responsible for cleaning and sanitation of one section, he worked the early shift, I worked the mid-shift, and I just took his shift every day.’ Di Hualian said, ‘Although we work in the Fangcang Hospital for only 6 hours a day, the preparation work before and after takes up 10 hours.’
‘Work is tiring, it’s a problem, but the preparation work is more complicated.’ Chen Wan immediately showed himself to be a straightforward and efficient person: ‘Wearing a protective suit needs someone to help, one person can’t handle it, and it’s also difficult to take off, you need to disinfect when entering and exiting the cabin, and you need to disinfect when you come back, and you need to take a half-hour shower.’
It is understood that the cleaning workers at Huabiao Fangcang Hospital are on duty in four shifts. Zhao Zhang, Deputy Manager of Han Yang Environmental Sanitation Group, said that the cleaning workers do a disinfection and garbage collection and clearance once per shift, and then continuously maintain the cleaning.
‘The patients receiving treatment are generally very well-behaved, and there are not many people who litter. Once, a patient didn’t throw the paper towels into the garbage can, and a bedmate in the next bed scolded him and forced him to pick them up and throw them away.’ Di Hualian felt that the good environment in the Fangcang Hospital depended on the support of everyone.
When talking about the biggest difference between working in the Fangcang Hospital and before, the couple felt that the distance between people was indeed very far: ‘Because we are facing high-risk infectious patients, everyone is somewhat nervous, and the management and supervision both inside and outside the work are very strict, and it’s not possible to see each other face to face, but we can’t contact each other.’
Chen Wan and Di Hualian hope that all patients in the Fangcang Hospital can recover as soon as possible, and they hope this temporary job will end as soon as possible!
(Reporter Wang Chu, Correspondent Fang Bei, Jian Shou Editor Huang Yu Da, Reviewer Li Shuguang)
