Head of Volunteers Races Against Time to Raise Funds for Hospitals in Wuhan

Medical staff members in Wuhan's Tongji Hospital receive donations from donors organized by Zhang Rong. [China Women's News]

Zhang Rong, a 40-year-old resident in Wuhan, has been busy raising money for medical supplies and donating them to hospitals in Wuhan and other hard-hit cities in Hubei Province since January 26.

As of February 20, Zhang and her team members had collected more than 400,000 yuan (US $57,331) for purchasing the supplies including facial masks, protective clothing and goggles.

She learned in a WeChat group on January 24 that many hospitals in Wuhan were short of much-needed medical supplies. Then, she and a friend began to collect money to buy medical necessities for them.

On January 26, some others joined them to raise money, and a six-member team was set up. Each of them has their own duties, including registration of donations, matching the supplies and recipients, examining and reviewing suppliers' qualification, and transporting them to hospitals.

In the first round of fund-raising that concluded on February 3, they raised funds totaling over 300,000 yuan (US $42,977).

According to Zhang, they announced all the details of the donations, such as the proof of their payments and certificate of donation offered by recipients in the WeChat group, which can be supervised by all the donors and participants.

She said they hoped to ease the shortage of necessities for the frontline medical workers, following the principle of openness, transparency and traceability in the whole procedure.

Zhang recalled the first days, saying that it had been a race against time. She usually could not have a break until around 2 in the morning. 

To ensure early allocation, the team recruited vehicles to transport the medical supplies directly from the factories to hospitals or organized volunteers to download and allocate the supplies after their arrival in Wuhan.

As more hospitals in the province asked for help in the WeChat group, Zhang organized another group to register their demands. More than 20 hospitals in Wuhan, Huangshi, Xiaogan and Huanggang cities in Hubei benefited from it.

Zhang said she was impressed by a team member. A young man, who was skeptical about Zhang and her team's deeds at first, joined the team and devoted himself to delivering supplies to hospitals after learning the shortages on the frontline with his own eyes. He usually missed meals because he was too busy to have a rest.

"It's not easy to keep going. Fighting against time is fighting for life. Even if we only sleep three hours a day, we are happy to see frontline medical staff using the protective materials," Zhang said.

(Source: China Women's News/Translated and edited by Women of China)