Hats off to health care folks

By the time you read these words I will be exactly five days away from being fully vaccinated against COVID and I couldn’t be happier.

Not because I enjoy being stuck with a needle, but because this terrible virus scares me. Unlike most of you, I have a relative who works in the ICU at one of the many hospitals that was on the front line of this war and, without violating any HIPAA rules, they told me what COVID did to people.

The truth is, the “telling” didn’t have to come in the form of words, I could see it on this person’s face every time they came off a long shift. But I don’t want this to be a negative column where we relive the horror of something that claimed more than a half-million American lives. I’d rather spend the time praising people who, in my opinion, will never get the thanks they deserve for what they’ve done.

We can start with the nurses who knew the odds of this rigged game the moment they put someone on a ventilator and tried to keep a brave face for the families. No acting school could prepare you enough for that chore, because the nurses, doctors and other frontline health care workers knew the likely outcome weeks in advance.

Still, some people did come off the machines so they would hope this might be the outcome for specific patients and tell a child or spouse, “He looks strong, don’t give up hope. I’ve got this.”

Then, when the strongest person could not win the battle to simply breathe on their own again, that same nurse had to be the one holding an iPad up and allowing that same family to see their loved one, one last time to say goodbye.

I’ve never been to medical school or trained to be a nurse or physician’s assistant, but I have to believe they don’t cover this in the curriculum. Patient care, compassion, being a human being? Sure, of course. But this? Being the nurse, social worker, priest, counselor and best friend to the dying? No textbook prepares them for that. Yet they did it, often without complaint, no matter how emotionally empty or physically tired.

They did it and then came home and scrubbed themselves like a prisoner at Shawshank, so they wouldn’t infect their families, and collapsed without dinner; too tired to eat or talk or think. Then got up and went back for more.

I know the virus isn’t behind us, but we have turned a corner and before we all get too busy booking trips and going to the beach again, I wanted to pause and recognize our health care workers for what they’ve done. God bless them.

I also hope the people who run hospitals understand what these poor people went through and when this is mercifully over and behind us, I hope they see that these health care workers will likely carry their own residual effects. No different than a soldier who carries bullet fragments logged near the heart, too tender to remove but always there as a reminder of the war they survived.

And if that nurse or doctor needs a day off for no good reason, just give it. Give it willingly and with an attitude of, “Take as much time as you need.”

I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank the nameless thousands who dress in lab coats and worked endless hours in labs, bringing us these vaccines. Last summer it sounded like a pipe dream to think we might have a single vaccine by St. Patrick’s Day of 2021, but to have three with a fourth on the way. I don’t think average people understand how amazing that is, so quickly and so effective.

These workers are the reason we have so greatly slowed the death rate and why we’ll be able to get back to normal again.

Finally, a word for the people administering the shots at state run sites, pop-up clinics and pharmacies alike. Thank you for what you do as well. I mentioned at the top that I get my second dose of vaccine in a few days. While securing the first visit was indeed a chore, my experience getting the shot could not have been more pleasant.

The place I went was well organized and the workers friendly and helpful. I wait longer at T.J. Maxx to buy socks, than I did to get my shot. Walking out of the facility, I turned to a worker holding a clipboard and said, “You’re saving lives today. I hope you know that.” She just smiled and said, “Have a good day sir.”

I could tell by her expression, she thought I was just some grateful man being silly and overly excited to get a vaccine. While I am certainly guilty on both counts, I was also a man speaking the truth. When they close the book on Covid, people will focus on the death toll.

They should also remember the millions saved by smart, loving people who said three simple words, “I got you.”