A helping hand on front lines of grief: Hong Kong Red Cross psychological support team there for those who have just lost loved ones to tragedy
- For their selfless work, trained volunteer group from all walks of life has been nominated for this year’s Spirit of Hong Kong Awards
- Celeste Tang recalls tending to distraught family members and friends of victims of the horrific Tai Po bus crash in 2018
Celeste Tang Chui-ying has held the hands of people going through one of life’s darkest moments – losing their loved ones.
The volunteer and her colleagues at Hong Kong Red Cross’s Psychological Support Service have counselled distraught family members and friends of victims in fatal tragedies.
She recalled one such emergency effort when 19 people were killed and more than 60 were injured in a horrific bus crash in Tai Po on February 10, 2018.
That fateful night, Tang rushed to the Kwai Chung Public Mortuary to provide emotional support. She witnessed bereaved individuals sobbing their hearts out upon learning the deaths of their loved ones.
Tang and her colleagues, including clinical psychologists, stayed there with the families and cared for them, with some too shocked to handle the news.
“They just couldn’t focus,” she recalled.
Advice given by volunteers to the grieving include tips such as how to steady their nerves as family members took turns identifying the bodies.
Tang said: “We just stayed by their side and told them they could trust us and tell us how they felt.”