Contrary to what his WeChat nickname suggests, Fan Junping is actually quite young, born after 1985. During the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, he was a medical student and volunteered to work as a medical assistant in the International Broadcasting Center (IBC), providing medical services for TV broadcasting personnel from all over the world; 14 years later, he served in the Winter Olympics as a seasoned doctor who already became the attending physician of the Department of Respiratory and Critical and Intensive Care. Just a few days ago, he decisively identified a patient with heart failure and helped him avoid the risk of sudden death. From providing medical services in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games to aiding Hubei in the fight against COVID-19 in 2020, and then to providing medical services for the Winter Olympics in 2022, Fan Junping always successfully completed the major tasks assigned to him and has become more calm and confident along the way; for him, not a single day is idled away.

As a precaution against COVID-19, the Beijing Winter Olympics adopts closed-loop management. The closed loop means that he has to be away from home for a long stretch of time, but he is not upset by it: “It’s not just us medical professionals, there are many other people doing different jobs in the closed loop as well. We are away from home, and we are doing this for the safety and stability of the society. This is part of the medical profession. When I chose to be a doctor, I was already prepared for this.”

It has been more than 20 days since Fan Junping entered the closed loop and worked at the medical service station, which received not only international friends but also other volunteers and hotel staff, etc. The person who impressed Dr. Fan was a hotel chef. At first, the patient only said that he felt chest tightness at night for three times in the past week; he thought it might be caused by work fatigue, but still had some worries. Dr. Fan then inquired about his conditions in detail and learned that he was a long-time smoker and had had diabetes for a long time; the physical examination showed edema in both lower extremities, and the ECG indicated a suspected old myocardial infarction. After Dr. Fan reported this to Medical Officer Dr. Chen Gang, they quickly decided that the possible diagnosis was a heart failure, and Medical Manager Shi Di immediately arranged for an ambulance to take the patient to the designated hospital. After admission, echocardiography showed that the patient’s cardiac ejection fraction was less than 30% (the normal percentage should be above 50%) and there was a risk of sudden death at any time! Luckily, subsequent treatment had stabilized the patient’s condition. The two doctors were not cardiovascular specialists, but they immediately spotted the possible underlying cause of the patient’s chest tightness and made the right call to transfer him. “The colleagues in the hotel say they feel safe because we are there. That’s the best compliment to us.”

Fan Junping as a student volunteer in 2008

Fan Junping as a backbone personnel at the medical service station in 2022

Fan Junping on duty at the medical service station

Journalist: Chen Xiao

Photo: Fan Junping

Translator: Liu Haiyan

Editor: Wang Yao