Volunteers travel on a motorbike as they transport an oxygen tank for a COVID-19 patient in Bangkok, Thailand, on August 5, 2021. (Reuters photo)
By Reuters
Aug 23 2021
Decked out in personal protective equipment, former pilot Chayaphon Satondee dashes to the Bangkok home of an elderly coronavirus patient in urgent need of hospital care.
Chayaphon gives the 86-year-old woman oxygen before laying her on a stretcher and taking her to hospital in a pickup truck.
He does this throughout each day as a member of a new volunteer group called Zendai, or “connection,” founded four months ago to help vulnerable people who have become isolated due to the pandemic.
The group, which relies on donations, has more than 100 volunteers who handle calls to a hotline, respond to emergencies and conduct more than 10,000 rapid tests a day. Most of them are young people who have no formal medical training but are taught basic first aid response.
“Now, I have to perform first aid, provide oxygen or even do CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) on people, so they can live for a bit longer to be able to make it to the hospital,” said Chayaphon, 27, who started off as a driver.
Word about the group has spread thanks to media attention and Facebook, where it posts personal stories of patients.
Read the full news in LiCAS.news.
