Time to show health-care workers more appreciation
Last year, during COVID-19's first volley, pandemic silence was broken every evening by neighbourhoods expressing appreciation to health-care workers. It's time to cheer again.
Apartment balconies became auditoriums that sometimes broke into spontaneous choruses of O Canada or Vera Lynn's: Until we Meet Again. Over the course of time, the enthusiastic cheering waned. Maybe complacency, the wet and dark winter months, constant restrictions, or never knowing when the end will come. It didn't completely stop.
A few diehards have hung in there. Recent news stories have highlighted Gabriel Hasselbach from Burnaby, who still offers a weekly musical tribute that attracts his neighbours. He says, “We just need people to stay aware and stay in gratitude.”
Hospitalizations have increased during the current third wave of the pandemic, and everyone is tired. On April 8, Dr. Bonnie Henry said visits to hospitals in Vancouver and the Fraser Valley reinforced to her how worn out hospital workers are after such a long year. A little encouragement goes a long way.
The end is in sight, vaccines will come, but it is always the last mile of a race that's hardest. Last year, the evening cheer showed appreciation to health-care workers, those stocking shelves in grocery stores, working in food processing plants or delivering goods. It also brought communities and neighbourhoods together. Seeing everyone emerge at 7 p.m. encouraged and reinforced it wasn't just me — we were truly all in this together.
We still are, and it's time to remember that. Jennifer Cole, Vancouver