COVID-19: Volunteering in Wuhan/China

For Xu Yongqi, living in the initial epicenter of the Covid-19 epidemic allowed him to have a deeper feeling of the sorrow and distress local people had and the urgency to take immediate actions in offering a helping hand.

Xu, a Wuhan-based Swine sales manager at Boehringer Ingelheim China, took the initiative to become a volunteer in his community shortly after the epidemic broke out, and also tried his best to serve local clients as he delivered on the company’s mission to improve human and animal health.
“I think I must stand out in this critical moment as I couldn’t calm down after seeing so many people in Wuhan had extreme difficulties in their lives,” said Xu. “I know how hard medical staff were working to fight the virus, and I think I had to contribute my ability to the city where I’ve lived and studied for 13 years.”

Helping 8,000 residents to source daily necessities and food

Communities in Wuhan started to be locked down on February 11, 2020, and people were not allowed to go out freely. Purchasing supplies and foods became a huge challenge to almost 8,000 people in 2,401 households in Juyuan Community where Xu lives. Without any hesitation, Xu and his wife signed up to join a team of volunteers, who were responsible for sourcing supplies and food.

Every day, Xu took strict protection measures before driving to designated places to fetch supplies and fresh food for the whole community. Then, other volunteers were responsible for distributing them to every household. “I might be exposed to higher risks of infection, but I was confident that I could handle it,” said Xu. “I felt I was quite strong, and I also had the right knowledge about biosecurity and protection measures thanks to my professional experience, so it’s natural for me to do it.”

Before Xu decided to be a volunteer, there were Covid-19 cases confirmed in his community. After he became a volunteer, some people in nearby communities died due to the epidemic. “Although it made me feel a bit worried, it also urged me to take better protective measures,” Xu said. “I also received care and support from the company and colleagues, as well as protective suits and masks. All these empowered me to be persistent in doing volunteer work.” It wasn’t until the lockdown of Wuhan was completely lifted on April 10 that his volunteer work officially ended.

Restoring supply chain of swine vaccines in epidemic-related lockdown

Xu Yongqi

After Wuhan was locked down, except for epidemic relief, all other logistics channels, such as air transportation, express delivery, and shuttle buses, throughout Hubei province were closed. Xu received calls from his customers, telling him that vaccines were about to run out of stock. “I could actually feel the anxiety from the customers’ tone,” Xu said. “The African swine fever has hit them badly, and many customers used many years of savings and even took loans to restart pig farming. If the vaccine shortage leads to diseases on farm, it would deal a fatal blow to many of them.”

Xu believed that he should use all possible method to ensure swine vaccine supply to Boehringer Ingelheim customers. In the ten consecutive days at the end of February, on top of working daily as a volunteer under high risks, the first thing he did after waking up every day was to check the policy changes of various logistics companies, and to find all kinds of possible ways to help him get swine vaccines into Hubei. With the support of the Chinese Management Team, as well as colleagues based in Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, he finally got in contact with senior executives of SF East China, a logistic company, and opened up the route to ship products to Hubei province to help address the urgent needs of many customers.

But Xu soon learned that as the epidemic worsened, this initial shipping route had also to be disrupted. Xu believed that the epidemic would not end in near future, and he did not want his colleagues to take additional risks. So he began to help Boehringer Ingelheim’s distribution office in Wuhan to apply for the authorization to resume operation. 

Thanks to his experience as a volunteer in the community, Xu was familiar with the procedures needed for a company to resume work. Also, civil servants living in his community offered a lot of help. Thanks to such joint efforts, the agent smoothly obtained documents, vehicle pass and community entry pass in order to resume work. On March 12, 2020, Boehringer Ingelheim’s Wuhan-based distribution office, which Xu worked with, became one of the first enterprises to resume operation in Wuhan High-tech Bio-agriculture Park. Subsequently, receipt and delivery of products gradually turned normal, and the vaccine supply to Hubei customers was basically restored.

Recalling this special period of time, Xu said, “I feel very happy to be able to support residents in my community to ensure they have a normal life, while also supporting my customers in this critical period by addressing their urgent needs.”