EDITORIAL

In praise of region’s new breed of heroes

IT is our region’s greatest employer — and now Barwon Health is marshalling its army for our war on coronavirus.

It is extraordinary how these changing times are transforming our friends and neighbours into heroes. The 7000-strong local workforce is preparing for the biggest challenge in our lifetime, and each and every frontline health worker will be our community’s greatest assets as the crisis continues to unfold in the days and weeks to come.

Many of them will be grappling with the uncertainty of what is to come and when it will hit full force. All of them will be balancing their critical roles with concern for their own health and that of their loved ones.

Today, we provide the stories behind just some of the people who are fighting for our lives on the front line. They are parents, friends, sons and daughters — all dealing with all of the same fears and concerns as the rest of us, but with the added weight of carrying our community’s health on their shoulders during the biggest global health crisis of modern times.

So much has already been asked of them as they adjust to new procedures, evolving priorities and, in some cases, whole new roles. But with the number of local cases still under 60, they know that the worst is very much still to come.

Across the globe, everybody’s lives have been changed since the discovery of COVID-19 in January. In Australia, we have all seen the vision on our TV screens of makeshift hospitals and overworked medical staff as international health systems struggle under the weight of tens of thousands of cases. They are sobering images for most of us; imagine how they must affect the loved ones of our health workers.

Most of us don’t have the technical skills to be able to assist on the front line, but we can help out in other ways.

We can donate to the Barwon Health Foundation’s coronavirus emergency response fund to help supply our local health service with additional resources as the crisis evolves.

We can amplify their efforts and express our gratitude for their work by leaving a message of support on the Geelong Advertiser website.

But most importantly, we can just stay home. It is amazing to think that something so simple can truly make a difference between life or death.