Anne Zhang

    zhangy49@gmail.com

    MANY expats in Shekou, Nanshan District, give a thumbs-up when they talk about Dr. Peggy Meng.

    Meng is the director of the outpatient department of Shekou People’s Hospital. She established Shenzhen’s first database of voluntary interpreters to help expats seeking medical treatment. She is often invited to explain medical procedures and Chinese medicine to international residents in Shekou. Many Shekou expats regard her as their 911.

    “Dr. Peggy is very helpful. She makes it more convenient for me and my family to get medical treatment in Shenzhen,” said Oscar Arebalo from Bolivia who is a pilot with Shenzhen Airline and has lived in Shekou for more than six years.

    Meng started working at Shekou People’s Hospital in 1992. She began seeing expat patients after her hospital cooperated with a locally based international clinic in 1994.

    Some of the patients spoke neither Chinese nor English, so they couldn’t communicate with doctors, Meng said. “Language barriers could lead to treatment failures. It was necessary and urgent to have interpreters, but where could we find them?” she asked.

    Meng realized that patients were a good resource, so she started to recruit expat volunteers from the patients she met.

    “When expats came in for treatments, I often asked them which language they spoke and whether they wanted to volunteer as an interpreter,” Meng said.

    The database was soon built up, which includes volunteers who speak English, German, French, Italian, Dutch and some less common languages such as Polish and Icelandic.

    Expats in Shekou come and go, so Meng had to update the database frequently until her hospital joined with International SOS, an organization that provides 24-hour translation service by phone.

    With nearly 20 years’ experience serving expat patients, Meng’s name has become widely known in the community.

    “Whenever I call Dr. Peggy, she is always ready to help. Her English is excellent and she is very patient with me,” said Russell Daelbov, a designer from Uzbekistan.

    American Joyanne Garvey recalled a time when Meng spent nearly two and a half hours helping her get medical tests and treatments when she first visited Meng’s hospital.

    “She is a good doctor. She has devoted herself to the hospital and to the expat community,” Garvey said.