After the outbreak of Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia, the shortage of medical supplies especially for the frontline doctors has been a great concern for ISEE alumni.
Yuwei Chen, chief scientist of Geospatial Research Institute of Finland
Yuwei Chen, a 1999 alumnus of ISEE, is the chief scientist of Geospatial Research Institute of Finland. Although being abroad, he cares a lot about his motherland and always pays great attention to the development of the epidemic. On January 27, Yuwei Chen actively responded to the call of Zhejiang Province, cooperating with Huang Jun, President of Zhejiang chamber of Commerce of Finland and Zhejiang merchants in Finland to purchase local epidemic prevention materials. The first batch of donated materials for epidemic prevention was ready on the afternoon of the 30th. However, due to the complicated customs procedures, Chen tried all possible ways and finally made it through the way of Finnish airlines' crew directly carrying the goods. Thanks to Chen’s effort, 3600 medical surgical masks and 150 pairs of 3M goggles that the Zhejiang chamber of Commerce of Finland donated to Hangzhou First People's Hospital arrived successfully on February 5th .
At 4 a.m. on February 2, Yuwei Chen received a call from his hometown, hoping that he could help purchase medical materials to support the Fourth People's Hospital of Zhuji City. On the morning of the day, Chen, together with the students, went to the local drugstores to purchase as many as they could; at the same time, he allocated materials to the Zhejiang chamber of Commerce of Finland and had bought masks and goggles that worth 50000 yuan in two hours. In order to deliver materials to his hometown as quickly as possible, he went straight to the airport to find reliable returnees to help transport the materials. To reassure others, he also printed out his personal introduction. Finally, he found a young man named Xiaobin Ruan from Hangzhou to help him take the first batch of materials (3600 medical surgical masks) to Shanghai Pudong Airport. The next day, Chen received free logistics support from Xin Qian, General Manager of Shentong Express (Finland), and special approval from Xiang Xu, General Manager of Jixiang Aviation (Finland), to assist in the delivery of materials. The second batch of anti-epidemic materials (700 N95 masks and 9 pairs of goggles) also arrived at the Fourth People's Hospital of Zhuji on February 4.
From left: Xiang Xu, General Manager of Jixiang Aviation (Finland), Xin Qian, General Manager of Shentong Express (Finland), Yuwei Chen, alumni
Since the masks have been sold out in Finland, Chen and others turned to Estonia to purchase masks. As of February 8, they have purchased the third batch of materials (10100 medical surgical masks and 409 protective clothing) for counterpart support to Hubei Huanggang Central Hospital. At present, they have completed packing, sorting, labeling and other work by themselves and are in contact with rookie logistics, hoping to deliver the materials to China as soon as possible.
Zhi Wang alumni arouse the overseas friends to action to sweep epidemic prevention materials in social circle
Alumni from home and abroad gathered together. Zhi Wang (pseudonym here) and his wife, associate professor of ISEE, paid close attention to the situation of the epidemic area all the time. When they saw the news of the shortage of materials in the epidemic area, they were worried. Now that domestic supplies were scarce, they immediately thought about whether they could buy from overseas. They began to raise materials on December 29.
Zhi Wang and his wife, while purchasing, mobilized their family, friends, colleagues, even their moms’ friends. At their call, more and more people joined in. In only two days, they have raised more than 920000 yuan.
Everyone made great efforts to purchase medical materials in Japan, the United States, Germany and other countries, and then sent them back to China as soon as possible, donating them to the units in need. As of today, they have purchased and donated 40000 masks, 4000 sets of protective clothing and other medical materials.
"At the very moment of the epidemic, every Chinese should not be a bystander. As a researcher engaged in research related to medicine, I have always admired the work of doctors and felt the same for them. The success of this donation is not personal power. We just initiated it. A lot of people want to do something for the country after they learned about the epidemic." Wang said.
Our alumni at home and abroad work together to fight against the epidemic, adhere to the mission of ZJU to take on the responsibility and work together with the country to overcome the difficulties. Alumni and novel coronavirus are welcome to provide information and clues for combating the outbreak of NCP. At this critical moment, it is more significant for us to unite as one and tide over the difficulties.
