Multipurpose room on the 2nd floor of Yeonhui-dong Community Center, 3:07.
Click. Click.
Yoon Jin-hyo, who was filming the lines of elderly flocking from the senior citizen center receiving medical treatment, covered his mouth with his hand while yawning.
A really boring day, chasing the doctors from Hansung Hospital for 24 hours.
He felt despair at the thought of having to continue covering this until tomorrow morning.
-Look. A lot of residents are here, right? This is the true sense of a community that helps and lives with each other.
Yoon Jin-hyo's lens headed to the emergency surgeon at Hansung Hospital, standing with a district office official.
A large number of things planned as surprise shows were moved up in the evening, and maybe due to the lack of personnel but even the chief came. It showed how much the director was eager to do this.
"Reporter Yoon? You’re here.”
Yoon Jin-hyo's head turned at someone's voice.
Sung Ryle, a social media reporter for the Dongmyeong Ilbo, walked inside.
"DongMyeong is also covering this event?"
"Someone I know said that something fun would happen. What about you?”
"Me too."
Yoon Jin-hyo asked quietly just in case.
"Hansung Hospital Dean?"
"No."
Sung Ryle smiled meaningfully. Yoon Jin-hyo looked at him in suspicion as he was preparing for intensive coverage with a cameraman.
Dongmyeong Ilbo was a mainstream newspaper company within the top three traffic rankings on the Internet, and mostly did not report such small events.
If it was not a request to promote Hansung Hospital, why did he come here?
Yoon Jin-hyo's curiosity was solved by fixing his eyes on a person who just appeared in front of the multipurpose room.
-I'm Park Dowook, a volunteer paramedic. I'm here to apply for free medical treatment.
"Are you here to report Park Dowook?"
"Do you know him?"
"We have history so it’s a bit difficult to meet him face-to-face, but I know him well. How do you know him?”
"The informant pointed it out and asked for coverage. I looked through some articles and thought he was a highly popular doctor, so I came right away. Unlike the entertainment department, the Ministry of Social Affairs rarely has such a person.”
A few weeks ago, Park Dowook, who greatly put down Hansung Hospital with intelligent media response and outstanding skills, was an object of resentment for Yoon Jin-hyo, but he was quite attractive for reporters.
"No matter how hard it is, this is the enemy camp for Park Dowook. You're not here to cover the excitement of him being dissed, though."
"Really? The informant is not one to say useless things."
"Who is it, that informant? Is it a secret?”
"Just keep it to yourself. It was CEO Lim of KG Entertainment."
"Whoa…"
It was top-class among industry giants. What kind of relationship did such a big person have with him that she paid attention to Park Dowook?
Yoon Jin-hyo immediately turned the direction of the lens.
"Huh? Aren't you covering Hansung Hospital?"
"I can't repeat my mistake. I'm also boarding Park Dowook."
The dean of Hansung Hospital said this. Just cover the event as it was. So this was legitimate coverage.
"You majored in neurosurgery? At the hospital?”
Dowook nodded to the question of the nurse sitting at the entrance to the multipurpose room and the simple reception desk.
"Wait a minute."
Somehow, the way she spoke was not kind.
He saw the nurse, who went inside, talking to Professor Min Eung-sik, who was treating a patient.
Professor Min glanced at Dowook and lightly saluted. The nurse came back to Dowook.
"After five minutes, you can continue in Professor Lim Jae-baek's seat.”
"Okay. Oh, and….. Can you give me an assistant’s chair?"
"Assistant?”
Lim So Yool, who was standing behind him, peeped out her head.
"Please."
"Right."
Dowook looked inside the free clinic while waiting in the hallway for a while.
It was the same structure as the outpatient clinic.
The reception desk first listened to and distinguished the patient's illness, and assigned them to doctors sitting at five simple tables to perform diagnosis and treatment.
Professor Lim Jae-baek, who worked in Group A that morning, stood up from his seat and gestured for him to come over.
"Director. That way."
While settling down with Lim So Yool, Professor Min Eung-sik next to him stared with smiling eyes at Dowook.
"Although we announced that other hospital doctors could also give support, Dr. Park Dowook was the only one who actually came."
"Really?"
"Even though simple counseling for symptoms at the end doesn’t actually require professional knowledge."
There wouldn’t be a resident with the courage to come to this place where Professor Min and other trauma experts from Hansung Hospital came and went. No matter how mild the patient’s condition was.
Dowook would not have thought of coming here without Lim So Yool.
"It's not easy to do double the volunteer work. The professor and the people here are amazing.”
"Is that so? In that case, Dr. Dowook who came here after six hours of dispatch is also excellent."
A strange atmosphere where compliments were being thrown back and forth, but the vigilant glint in their eyes did not disappear. Among them, a man in his 50s, who was wrinkled around his eyes, came to Dowook’s table with a district official.
"Look here, too, Chief. We are also working closely with other hospitals. Thank you for your hard work, Dr. Park Dowook. I'm Shim Sang-dong, the head of emergency surgery."
Since the other person called his name, Dowook was surprised and asked.
"Do you know me?"
"Of course. Aren’t you a famous surgeon at Myeong Sae Hospital? You have a reputation on our side too."
The district official once again looked at Dowook at this.
"Then work hard, Dr. Park. Chief, do you want to see the treatment room? We have set it up at the level of a general emergency room."
Chief Shim suddenly praised Dowook and disappeared.
To consider it as a gesture of reconciliation and harmony was difficult since the existence of this free clinic itself was already an open declaration of competition.
It felt suspiciously like a way to keep him in check to Dowook.
"Patient 3 is coming in."
A chubby man in his 40s approached the table. After a cough, he sat in the chair opposite him.
"Oh, doctor. I came because I ache all over."
"Do you have body aches?"
He clearly stated at the reception desk that he was from neurosurgery, but a respiratory internal medicine patient was sent. Despite the considerable number of neurological patients complaining of spinal pain among waiting residents, the appearance of a patient seemed to have been specially picked out.
"As expected."
Chief Shim, who was talking to a district official, was glancing this way with a look as if ‘Let's see how well you do.’
After checking with Lim So Yool, who was beside him with an open notebook, Dowook put the stethoscope to the patient's chest.
"You keep coughing. Do you smoke?"
"No, I stopped after I got asthma."
It was not easy to listen to the breathing because there was a lot of fat, but there were enough symptoms to diagnose asthma.
"I'll measure your blood pressure. Please raise your arms. Relax your fist."
Blood pressure 160/94. Pulse 100. Respiratory rate 20.
Writing the results of the diagnosis down on the paper, Dowook talked about his findings.
"You have high blood pressure. Seeing that there is no fever, I don't think there are any symptoms of body aches due to infection. Can you tell me when you last had an asthma attack?”
"I think it was a week ago? I was suffering from coughs until dawn, but it stopped as I was delivering rice in the morning."
"You're taking bronchial dilator, right? If that doesn't solve it, you should be prescribed beta stimulants, which needs a diagnosis from a specialized hospital.….”
"Just a second, Dr. Dowook."
Min Eung-sik from Table 2, who finished diagnosing his patient, interrupted Dowook’s words as if he had been waiting.
"Coughing throughout the night is not necessarily an asthma attack. If it’s orthopnea, there is a possibility of heart failure."
[TN: Orthopnea or orthopnoea is shortness of breath that occurs when lying flat, causing the person to have to sleep propped up in bed or sitting in a chair. ]
Min Eung-sik, who boldly diagnosed heart failure, knelt down in front of the patient. Min Eung-sik, who once again listened to the breathing which Dowook had already done, opened his mouth.
"There's a wet noise in his lungs. Can you show us your feet?”
Min Eung-sik, who touched the patient's feet, raised his head.
"Both feet are edemic. Paroxysmal dyspnea and lung noise. This meets the criteria for diagnosing acute heart failure."
"wh-what's acute heart failure, doctor?”
"It means you have a heart problem. There are many causes, but I'm glad I found it like this.”
"Oh, my god. I thought it was just body aches."
"It would have been a big problem if you went back thinking it was a simple asthma attack and died."
Min Eung-sik once again stressed that Dowook’s opinion was a misdiagnosis.
"Just in case, I'll check your blood pressure again."
People's attention was drawn to Min Eung-sik's behavior of conducting a basic test that had already been conducted.
‘They selected a patient who was difficult to diagnose from among those many citizens and sent him to me.’
This was a symptom that could never be diagnosed at once by Dowook, who was not an internal medicine specialist. No, it was a case where it would have been difficult for a specialist to easily confirm unless he/she was examined with precision equipment.
Dowook turned to the reception desk and saw Lim Jae-baek looking over. A professor who Seong Chang Soo said was a chest expert was classifying patients. He got a feeling of what had happened.
"Doctor, what should I do?"
"First, go to the hospital…….”
"What's wrong, Professor Min?"
Chief Shim returned at an amazing time with a district official.
"Chief. This patient’s case is not something we can deal with here. Related experts have to stick together and give definite opinions. Cardiology, respiratory medicine, and cardiac surgery."
"Really? Then I'll call our hospital ambulance. It's the weekend, so there must be only a few people on duty. Hey, let me try to get all the chiefs together. Free of charge. Because today is that kind of day."
As soon as Min Eung-sik, Chief Shim, and Lim Jae-baek's faces were filled with smiles of satisfaction.
Lim So Yool poked Dowook’s side. A sign that the calculation was finished.
After nodding that he knew, Dowook told Min Eung-sik, who was smiling.
"The diagnosis is definitely different because the professor has been exposed to numerous patients. Thank you for your great judgment. Then, can I wrap up my patient counseling now?”
Min Eung-sik's laughter slowed to a stop.
"What did you say? Counseling?”
"It's not polite as a doctor to just send him back to a big hospital because he's sick. Sir, can you sit here?”
At Dowook’s calm voice, the patient sat down with a confused face.
"During the re-examination, I checked various statistical data on the patient's symptoms."
Dowook reached out and accepted Lim So Yool's sense.
After looking through the medical papers he had searched on his cell phone in line with the diagnosis added by Min Eung-sik, he quickly wrote down the statistics in the notebook. At the same time, he spoke to the patient.
"Your breathing problem is a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a disease called COPD. Director?
"The probability of relieving symptoms within three years with respiratory rehabilitation and oxygen therapy is 77.25%. 5 years is 96.13%."
"Did you hear that? 5 years is 96.13%, even though it's long. The inhalants you are using now are only responsible for maintaining the status quo, and you must receive COPD treatment. What you need to consider if you have heart problems on top of that is, director?”
"Life expectancy can be calculated for each risk factor for high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, atherosclerosis, and diabetes."
"The patient seems to have high blood pressure and diabetes. Would you like to hear what happens if we don't take action on this risk factor? Statistics can be a little cruel."
The patient nodded with a serious face.
"I have to listen to it. I need to know so I can be prepared."
As Dowook began to analyze all kinds of medical statistics on patients' symptoms easily and accurately, Chief Shim, who was watching, looked at Min Eung-sik with a look asking what they were doing.
Min Eung-sik also shook his head with a face that he did not know because he had never heard of such a diagnosis.
Chief Shim spoke to the district official.
"Deputy Director. Now that you've seen the inside, let's check out the medical supplies."
"No, wait a minute. Let's listen to all of that. Each treatment even points out the probability of side effects. Are hospital check-ups like that these days? It's fascinating."
"That's…."
When Mr.Choi from Myeongho rice shop in Yeonhui-dong, came out with a piece of paper, a local resident who was waiting asked.
"What is this, Mr.Choi? You didn't even get cold medicine?”
Choi looked inside the free clinic and spoke as if possessed.
"I don't have a cold."
"Then you should at least get a headache pill. Aspirin. They say it's all free. Mr. Park got two bottles.”
"I don't need that. This. This is amazing.”
The citizen looked strangely when he saw the paper shaken by Mr. Choi.
"What's that?"
"That doctor. The medical checkup freely provided by insurance said something that was impossible to follow. Don't drink. Exercise. Without saying those beyond obvious things. If you manage high blood pressure for 1 year, you can live for 30 months. If you manage it for 2 years, 50 months. If you don’t manage it at all, you can die in 3 years. I think the probability for that was 90%? Anyway, he told me everything very precisely.”
"Really? Who? What kind of doctor?
"The one sitting in the middle".
The eyes of the residents in the line all headed for Dowook.
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