A sympathetic ear for anxious patients

Yu Man-kit, Nursing Manager of HA’s Institute of Advanced Nursing Studies, was one of the first operators of the enquiry hotline 1836115. He once received a call from an elderly man. His son got infected and was admitted to isolation facility. He had symptoms of COVID-19 but the testing result was yet to release. He stayed at home alone feeling helpless. He did not even dare to go inside his son’s bedroom. Yu Man-kit comforted the anxious old man, told him the logistics of isolation, taught him cleansing and disinfection, and concerned about his meals. “He asked whether he could eat fruits as he had a poor appetite. Then he was relaxed and even asked me if I want a dragon fruit,” Yu recalls. “In the face of large amount of infected persons pending for admission, at first, we thought the callers would be ringing up to complain, but in fact they understand the difficulties of frontline staff and just want someone to listen to their worries about having COVID-19.” An infected person resided in a sub-divided flat, was afraid to spread the disease to his family members. Yu told him to isolate himself by hanging plastic curtain around the bottom bunk bed. He laughs off his work experience in hospital’s infection control team helped a lot.

The hotline team is made up of colleagues from different disciplines and clusters. Leung Wai-see, Advanced Practice Nurse of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Princess Margaret Hospital, joined the hotline team during her executive partnership at HA Head Office. “I was in the frontline for the first four waves of COVID-19, but this time I found that the workload in the backline is just as intense as frontline,” she reflects. “When we help people in need, we reduce hospital admissions and help the ICU relieve the pressure. I believe as long as we remain steadfast in our fight against COVID-19, we can overcome wave after wave.”