90-Year-Old's Lifesaving Medication Delivered in Shanghai: Grateful Son Becomes Community Health Ambassador
“To help an elderly stranger obtain urgently needed medication, the staff and volunteers of the ‘Shanghai Medical Insurance Emergency Drug Platform’ went to great lengths and adopted special measures for exceptional circumstances, delivering the medicine to my mother the very next day. This truly made me feel the care and support of society! Now, I have also signed up to become a ‘Community Health Ambassador,’ hoping to contribute what I can to Shanghai’s epidemic prevention and control efforts.”
On the evening of May 2, the “Shanghai Medical Insurance Drug Emergency Platform,” along with its volunteers Dali (a pseudonym) and Lao Shi, each received a letter of thanks from Mr. Ye. Earlier that day, Dali and Lao Shi had just delivered the necessary medication to Mr. Ye’s mother. Prior to this delivery, the 90-year-old elderly woman had been without her medication for two weeks.
It is reported that the “Shanghai Medical Insurance and Emergency Medicine Platform” was jointly initiated by the Shanghai Digital Medicine Innovation Center, WeDoctor, Ruijin Hospital, and other medical institutions and pharmaceutical companies. Since its full launch on April 15, the platform has mobilized experts from across China and Shanghai to provide remote support (“airlifted assistance”) to Shanghai. It has also established volunteer teams for medicine supply assurance and Community Health Ambassadors to deliver end-to-end services—including online follow-up consultations, online medical insurance payments, and emergency medication delivery—to patients with chronic or severe conditions during lockdown periods.
△Volunteers for the "Shanghai Emergency Medicine Delivery Platform" deliver medications to patients in urgent need
Mr. Ye’s mother, aged 90, accidentally fell at home in late February this year. She underwent surgery after being admitted to the hospital. During her hospitalization, additional symptoms were identified, and treatment was initiated following a multidisciplinary consultation that confirmed the underlying cause. In March, she was discharged and returned home, with medical advice emphasizing the need for regular hospital visits for prescription refills and ongoing treatment.
However, within a few days, the epidemic broke out, and many residential communities began to implement lockdown management. “To fight the pandemic, everyone stayed at home, but my mother had run out of her medication. I was deeply worried yet felt powerless!” Mr. Ye lived more than 20 kilometers away from his mother’s community, unable to visit her. Anxiously, he searched for his mother’s medication on major online pharmacy platforms, but all efforts proved futile. As the elderly woman’s symptoms recurred due to the interruption of her treatment, Mr. Ye suffered from insomnia for several consecutive nights, overwhelmed by anxiety.
“Hoping for another chance, I reached out to the ‘Shanghai Medical Insurance Drug Emergency Platform’ in an effort to secure medication for my mother.” Mr. Ye had seen news reports about volunteers from the “Shanghai Medical Insurance Drug Emergency Platform” helping many people deliver urgently needed medications. Fortunately, after searching on the platform, he discovered that the medication his mother urgently needed was in stock!
“Given the current strain on delivery capacity in Shanghai, Mr. Ye immediately contacted the platform. ‘Although the platform states that delivery will be completed within 72 hours, I was still concerned, so I called to inquire. Unexpectedly, after learning about my mother’s condition, the staff took the matter seriously and promptly reported it to the platform manager. They then informed me that the medication would be delivered to my mother as early as tomorrow!’”
“Shanghai Medical Insurance Emergency Drug Platform” Operations and Dispatch Manager, Ms. Cai, replied to Mr. Ye that the medication could be delivered the next day. After receiving the report on the elderly patient’s condition, she immediately convened an online meeting with her team and delivery volunteers. Given that the patient had been without medication for an extended period, they unanimously decided to make exceptional arrangements and deliver the urgently needed drugs to the elderly patient as soon as possible.
It was only then that Mr. Ye learned that his mother’s residential community was originally ineligible for placing emergency delivery orders. To ensure delivery efficiency, the emergency platform had established its own pharmaceutical delivery team and recruited Community Health Ambassadors from the general public. These ambassadors worked in tandem with delivery volunteer groups, taking turns to handle tasks such as compiling medication needs and distributing drugs within their respective communities. Mr. Ye’s mother resides in Pujiang Town, Minhang District, where a Community Health Ambassador must be present in the community for orders to be processed normally. However, her community did not yet have one. This gap led to the sequence of events in which platform staff escalated the issue, the team convened an urgent meeting, and a decision was made to handle the case as a special exception.
Dali and Lao Shi were the volunteers responsible for medication delivery in Minhang District that day. Early on the morning of May 2, they arrived at Wei Yi Pharmacy to pick up prescriptions, which the pharmacy had expedited and prepared in advance for the elderly patient. By noon, Mr. Ye’s mother had received her medication. That day, Dali and Lao Shi completed a total of 37 medication deliveries across Minhang District, marking their 17th day of volunteer delivery service. To date, the emergency platform’s volunteer delivery team has successfully delivered urgent medications to more than 4,600 patients.
“Though the epidemic is ruthless, people are compassionate.” Deeply moved by the platform and volunteers’ efforts to safeguard Shanghai, Mr. Ye decided to sign up as a “Community Health Ambassador” in his residential compound, offering assistance to neighbors with needs similar to those of his mother. In fact, Mr. Ye is already a 68-year-old uncle, but he says that with so many people protecting Shanghai, the city will not fall. He hopes to be one of the participants in this relay of guardianship for Shanghai.