During December 2019, a cluster of cases displaying the symptoms of a "pneumonia of unknown cause" was found in Wuhan, where my alma mater is. Just a little more than a month later, it became a plague with over thousands of people infected. The virus was identified as a novel coronavirus and named SARS-CoV-2 by WHO. And Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by SARS-CoV-2.

The majority of hospitals who care for COVID-19 patients, including Wuhan Tongji Hospital and Wuhan Union Hospital, are affiliated with my alma mater. Our alumni sisters and brothers, are fighting with the coronavirus outbreak right now in these hospitals. Therefore, we are forging a united frontier in this war against the COVID-19 with all of us. And we feel it is our responsibility to help with all our efforts.

This is the time of holiday season in China. Chinese New Year is the most important and exciting festival in China when everyone returns home for a holiday reunion. In the spirit that "alumni are relatives without blood relationship. The Alumni Association is family and home to all alumni”, the original plan of our association at this time was holding a gala and dinner for all alumni and their families to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

However, SARS-CoV-2 spread fast. Number of people infected in Hubei increasing exponentially day by day. These are our alumni, friends, and families living and working there.

How can we help them?

On January 23rd, we decided to support the people in Hubei by pleading for donations, and providing urgently needed medical supplies. In just a few days, we formed an action team, including member of the board of HUST Alumni Association of Seattle, doctors who graduated from HUST and were fighting with COVID-19 in Hubei, and volunteers helping to transport supplies from us to the doctors. This is the beginning of our action.

We, HUSTers and lots of Hubei locals living in the Great Seattle Area, wishing to help the affected areas and all the people living there as quick as possible.

Because of the quarantine in Wuhan, and the severe shortage globally of medical supplies, the purchasing and transporting have been extremely hard. Days and nights, we worked with volunteers in the Great Seattle Area collecting the donations, finding supplies and sending to Wuhan where help is needed the most.

As of 11th Feb. 2020, we received, packed and sent around 44 boxes of relief supplies and over $250,000 from thousands of donors across the United States, much of which has been used in purchasing supplies in the U.S. and in China.

Just a week's time, we received 44 boxes of relief supplies. How can we transport them to Hubei, to the people desperately in need?

Before the outbreak, two airlines operate the flights from Seattle to Mainland China, but later on, Delta suspended all flights to China. With grave uncertainty, we reached out to Hainan Airlines whose crew members listened to our request and shared the same responsibilities to help. Supplies safely arrived in Beijing in two batches.

At the same time, we were also finding direct sources of relief supplies in China, which mean faster transportation, and more lives to be saved timely.

It was the holiday season in China and most factories and dealers were on vacation. It was hard to purchase anything at the time. Thanks to the connection with Philips China, we were able to purchase 83 ventilators in two weeks and delivered them to the hospitals, helping thousands of patients.

We also purchased a large amount of relief supplies in China, including face masks, protective clothing, gloves, disinfectant, etc. These supplies also helped to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

With the spread of coronavirus and lockdown in Hubei, the postal service almost stopped. It was hard to transport these supplies from Beijing to Wuhan, which are about 750 miles (1,200 km) away. Humanwell Healthcare, a Wuhan based healthcare solution provider with special transportation permits, helped us to achieve that mission. They transported all the supplies from Beijing International Airport to Wuhan twice, and also collected the supplies we purchased within China, and delivered all of them to dozens of hospitals in the infected areas in Hubei Province.

Here are the hospitals who received our donations and supplies as of 2/11/2020:

City of Wuhan:

1. Wuhan Tongji Hospital *

2. Wuhan Union Hospital *

3. Wuhan Union Jiangbei Hostpial *

4. Wuhan Union Jiangnan Hospital *

5. The Central Hospital of Wuhan *

6. Wuhan No. 1 Hospital *

7. Wuhan No. 3 Hostpial at Optical Valley

8. Wuhan No. 4 Hospital at Gutian *

9. Wuhan No. 5 Hospital

10. Wuhan No. 6 Hospital

11. Wuhan No. 7 Hospital

12. Wuhan No. 8 Hospital

13. Hubei Cancer Hospital *

14. Maternity and Child Healthcare Hospital of Hubei Province *

15. Huazhong University of Science and Technology Hospital *

16. Wuhan Pulmonary Hospital

17. General Hospital of the Yangtze River Shipping

18. Hubei Provincial Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine

19. Wuhan Jiangxia Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital

20. Wuhan Jiangxia First People's Hospital

21. Wuhan Xinzhou People's Hospital

22. Wuhan Xinzhou Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine

23. Wuhan Tianyou Hospital

24. General Hospital of Central Theater Command of PLA (for civilian use only)

City of Huanggang:

1. Huanggang No. 2 People's Hospital

2. Li Shizhen Hospital of Qichun County

3. Qizhou Hospital of Qichun County

City of Huangshi:

1. Huangshi No. 2 Hospital

2. Huangshi No. 5 Hospital

3. Huangshi Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine

City of Xiaogan:

The Central Hospital of Xiaogan

City of Ezhou:

The Central Hospital of Ezhou

City of Jingzhou:

Jianli People's Hospital

* These hospitals are affiliated with Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science of Technology

Support and empowerment from you are vital:

• Hubei Association of Seattle

• United Chinese Americans of Washington

• House of Grace Foursquare Church

• CSSA at University of Washington

• Hainan Airlines

• Humanwell Healthcare

• Donors across the United States

• Volunteers from Washington State and Hubei Province