Hon President's letter to Old Boys serving in "dirty teams" – Weathering the storm, braving the challenges

2020.02.22

Following is a letter to Old Boys serving in "dirty teams" in public hospitals managing patients of novel coronavirus infection by the Honorary President of Queen's College Old Boys' Association (QCOBA) and the Mok Hing Yiu Professor of Medicine of the Department of Medicine & Therapeutics of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Prof Joseph SUNG Jao-yiu, today (February 22).

The letter is part of Letters Asunder, an initiative to mark QCOBA's centenary in 2020 under the theme "Serving QC family, our centenary duty", sharing with the Queen's community words of wisdom and reflections.

Weathering the storm, braving the challenges

Dear brothers of Queen's College in the "dirty teams",

Watching you on TV today, I am very touched to see that our young doctors and nurses are once again putting their personal safety and comfort behind, volunteering to work in the high-risk areas of the hospital. Your courage and your selflessness are admirable and everyone in Hong Kong should be proud of you.

Flashing back to 2003, we were facing a similar crisis leading to over 100 patients and colleagues who came down with fever in ward 8A. We were scared and we were distressed. Scared because we had no idea of what we were fighting against, how the virus was being transmitted, how to protect ourselves and how to offer effective treatment to those who were catching their breath in the sick beds. Distressed because we saw a lot of our own colleagues, doctors, nurses, physiotherapists and even healthcare assistants being infected by mysterious ways and we worried that they would not survive the illness.

I remember when we divided our unit into two: those who took care of SARS patients ("dirty team") and those who took care of patients with no evidence of SARS ("clean team"), I asked everyone to do it voluntarily. I did point out that for those who were specialised in infectious disease and respiratory diseases, and those who were young and with no families to look after, should consider to join me as the first group to go in. And, to my great surprise, there were so many of you who volunteered to join the first group. In the whole period of over three months, we had volunteers from all clinical departments, including surgery, paediatrics, orthopaedics and even ophthalmologists. At one point I was unsure whether I should allow non-physicians to go in, but then your enthusiasm and your professionalism convinced me that, with our mutual support and our dedication, we shall overcome.

Every day, we received from the communities in Hong Kong numerous greeting cards, uncountable amount of blessings, fruits, flowers and even dessert soup. I was thinking these came from someone whom we have never met. They seemed so far, yet so close. The whole of Hong Kong was standing up as one person. The solidarity was unspeakable. After 100 days, we saw light at the end of the tunnel. There were no more new cases reported in Hong Kong.

Many of our patients/colleagues recovered and left the hospital with restored health. I still remember when they were discharged from hospital, when they put on their own clothes again in the changing room before coming out to meet the press, we were hugging each other, weeping and laughing with each other. We celebrated that we won the battle. As Charles Dickens wrote, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair."

I can never imagine that 17 years later, we are back to the same battlefield. This time the virus is similar in nature (but may be more contagious), this time the scale is even larger (albeit the majority of cases is in the Mainland), this time we are not the epicenter but we worried about infections spreading across the border, this time we have the same shortage of protective gears, this time we have the same fear and, in many of us, scars are still left in our hearts and our lungs from the last battle.

But brothers, I am very proud that you are still standing up to the challenge. You are serving the patients when needed, as you pledged many years ago. You are enduring every day the inconvenience and discomfort of wearing the N95 mask, goggles, face shield, protective clothing, boots and other protective gears. You are limiting the use of protective gears as you were told that their supply is limited. You isolated yourselves in hospital hostels after work lest you may bring the virus back home to your families.

I know you are frustrated. You are frustrated because there are still hundreds of travellers coming to Hong Kong who may bring new risks of infection endangering the community. You are frustrated because you were told that the use of masks and protective clothing is being audited and their supply is running out. You are frustrated because society is divided in opinion, and government policy and response are sometimes beyond our comprehension, but nothing shall deter us from serving those who are suffering from the illness. Nothing is more important than keeping our oath, that we will treat and serve the sick with our judgement and our ability.

You need to keep your optimism and to keep your chin up. I have learnt from SARS that if we feel that we are doomed, we are almost certain that we will be defeated. Believe me brothers, your hard work and your sacrifices are seen by every person in our society. The epidemic will be over one day, but the memories of your good work will stay in our hearts. Arguments and disputes will not keep you satisfied, but appreciation and tears of joyfulness from your patients will. Mundane clinical work will not warm your blood but this crisis will make you rethink the real meaning of medicine and nursing.

In his famous book Man's Search for Meaning, the famous psychiatrist who survived in the concentration camp of Hitler, Viktor Frankl said, "He who has a WHY to live can bear almost any HOW." When the night is over, when you see the sun rise, you will have a refreshed view on our profession, a profession of honour, a profession of love.

Joseph

Queen's College Old Boys' Association
February 22, 2020