On the fourth day of the first lunar month, the Zhashan Service Station of the Cicheng Town Central Health Center, located in the westernmost part of Cicheng, welcomed its first day of opening during the Chinese New Year holiday.

The person on duty is the family doctor Wang Weihua. As soon as he sat down, he received a call from an elderly patient Aunt Sun, saying, "I'm feeling a bit dizzy and can't walk a long distance. I don't know what's going on..." Upon hearing about Aunt Sun's situation, Wang Weihua responded without a hesitate: "Don't worry, I'll come over after work."

Due to the Chinese New Year holiday, there is only one family doctor and one nurse on duty at the health station, and there are occasional patients coming in for prescription or consultation. "Recently, there have been more elderly patients with respiratory diseases, and it's inconvenient to go to the city for medical consultations. Most of them come to our station for injections and medication." Wang Weihua said.

Flipping through the medical examination report at Aunt Sun’s house

Wang Weihua had always been worried about Aunt Sun's situation. As noon approached, he explained to the on-duty nurse Yang Shanshan and took advantage of his lunch break to drive to Aunt Sun's house. He measured blood pressure, auscultated, measured blood sugar, and carefully reviewed Aunt Sun's recent discharge summary issued by a hospital. "Because you just changed your hypertension medication, it may not be suitable for you. I will try to prescribe another one for you when I go back." "Don't worry, rest more and work less. Just discharged, you still need rest." "Don't forget to take hypertension medication." Seeing that Aunt Sun's condition was relatively good, Wang Weihua patiently advised.

Visit nursing homes for diagnosis and consultations

After leaving Aunt Sun's house, Wang Weihua immediately went to the Butao Yishou Institution, a local elderly care institution, to deliver medicine and consult with the elderly in the hospital. In the patrol service, considering the actual situation of cold weather and inconvenient mobility of the elderly in nursing homes, Wang Weihua patiently went to each elderly's room to inquire in detail about their health status, carefully conducted routine examinations for the elderly in need, patiently listened to the consultations of the elderly and nursing staff, and urged and guided the elderly with chronic diseases to use medication in a standardized manner, and developed personalized treatment plans for them.

Although it was the first day of work during the Chinese New Year holiday, Wang Weihua rarely had time to take a rest.

It's learnt that the Zhashan Health Station has a wide range of services, covering not only villagers from 7 villages, including the Huangshan Village and the Sanqin Village, but also the elderly care institution Butao Yishou Institution, and even Yuyao villagers several kilometers away. "There are many elderly people in the area, and there are more than 1,600 patients with chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes alone." Wang Weihua said, "therefore, even during the Spring Festival holiday, I should stay alert as always."

During the chat, the reporter also learnt that this year is already the fifth year that Wang Weihua has not been able to return to his hometown in Anhui for the Chinese New Year. "Our health station is more than 20 minutes' drive from the town, and the elderly here cannot drive and can only rely on buses for transportation. Therefore, for the elderly here, we are their 'health gatekeepers'!" Wang Weihua smiled and said, "for us, taking responsibility to protect their health is the most important thing during this Spring Festival."