The life-saving fleet
Print Edition
They are calling it their life-saving bus!
The shuttle bus from Yueyang Subdistrict in Songjiang takes seriously ill people to hospitals in downtown Shanghai every day for treatment.
“Since the launch of the bus line, we have transferred about 20 patients daily. We set off in the morning, send them to their hospitals, and pick them up again when they finish their treatment,” said Chen Kan, one of the staff at the subdistrict’s pandemic control and prevention office.
“Since April 5, the bus has ferried 285 people. It expands its services as per patients’ requirements. At first, it was only helping seniors who needed chemotherapy or hemodialysis. But now, we have also included children with severe illnesses. We also take residents who need prescription medicines from the hospitals,” Chen added.
A patient, surnamed Guo, who suffers from uremia, called the vehicle their life bus.
“Many days, we have to drop them off at different hospitals. We work from daybreak to dusk,” Chen said. “One session of hemodialysis treatment lasts for a long time, so uremia patients like Guo have to spend a long time in the hospital. The bus driver returns with the first batch of patients home and then heads back to fetch patients like Guo.”
“During our early-stage survey, we found that quite a few seniors in our subdistrict receive periodic treatment in downtown hospitals. If they are held back by the pandemic, their condition might worsen,” said Chen Xujing, chief of the pandemic control and prevention office of Yueyang Subdistrict.
The subdistrict then set up a 3-member medical transferring team; one in charge of transferring seniors to hospitals in the Songjiang District, the second helps with handling patients’ chemotherapy or hemodialysis issues; and Chen Kan, the third member, is responsible for transferring the patients to downtown hospitals.
A similar measure has been adopted in Songjiang’s Xiaokunshan Town.
The town launched a round-the-clock vehicle service to transfer cancer and uremia patients and pregnant women to hospitals. Five professional drivers and 21 part-time drivers took turns driving the 25 vehicles.
“We plan the routes ahead of time for better service and efficiency,” said one of the managers.
By April 26, the line had helped 1,411 people receive various treatments, including hemodialysis, chemotherapy, canine injury, and pregnancy care.
Fan Jie, an officer from the investment department of Xiaokunshan Economic and Technology Development Co, was one of the drivers during the pandemic resurgence.
To help patients reach hospitals early, Fan would skip meals and drink as little water as possible to save toilet time.
In less than a month, Fan ran up his driving mileage to about 4,000 kilometers. Only six people could fit in his car at once, and they were going to hospitals all over the city.
“I had to use the navigation at first to reach hospitals like Zhongshan Hospital’s Xuhui Branch, Huashan, Ruijin, Xinhua, and Shanghai Chest hospitals. Now I am familiar with the routes,” said Fan.
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