Army of heroes fighting for us

IRELAND has an army doing battle for us right now.

Not an army with guns and tanks but with everything from needles to bedpans – at war with a deadly virus.

It’s our army of ordinary everyday heroes, battalions of decent men and women fighting the good fight against Covid-19.

On St Patrick’s Night, Leo Varadkar said not all superheroes wear capes, some wear scrubs and gowns. He was absolutely right.

Since then our doctors and nurses have put their lives on the line in a desperate race to save those struck down with the disease.

They do long shifts that leave them mentally and physically drained.

They put themselves in harm’s way, treating sick patients in isolation units and ICUS.

They see death and suffering every hour. And then, they collapse at home, exhausted, only to roll out of bed to face the virus all over again. Work, sleep, repeat.

Already one tragically paid the ultimate price. A nurse, God rest her, caught the disease and died. Doing her job so others could live.

Nearly a quarter of all confirmed cases are medical staff. A prayer for them wouldn’t go astray.

But these are just the angels we know about. For there is a legion of other unsung heroes toiling tirelessly 24/7 in our hospitals.

All health workers deserve our praise and support, from doctors to dieticians, from physios to paramedics.

But where would these professionals be without the cleaners who scrub the wards and theatres. Or the catering staff who keep the frontline troops fed.

Or the porters who move silently through the corridors. Outside of the health workers, we have regiments of heroes from postmen to postmistresses, butchers to binmen, bakers to bus drivers, from truckers to train drivers.

And let’s not forget cashiers at tills behind anti-virus screens in shops, supermarkets and chemists up and down the country.

They, too, are playing their part in keeping Ireland moving along through this national emergency.

While we’re safe in our homes, they are providing vital services from pensions to prescriptions, from stamps to sausages.

In our nursing homes, care assistants help the old and infirm.

In the community, kind carers call to help those less able, along with the good folk running mealson-wheels.

Gardai can take a bow for leading the fight to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

And for delivering food and medicine to pensioners in isolated areas. And for keeping an eye on the criminals too – so that we can sleep soundly in our beds at night.

Our pilots are playing their part, flying to China and back without a break to bring home much-needed medical protection equipment.

Soldiers did their bit transporting these supplies to every hospital and clinic from Cork to Donegal.

And in our airports, although quiet, air traffic controllers are still on duty to guide the few flights with returning emigrants.

Spare a thought for the prison officers keeping a lid on convicts in the nation’s jails.

And, I guess, journalists, too. Working to keep the public up to date with the latest on the virus.

So, while the lockdown continues, the majority of us shouldn’t whinge about isolating and bingeing on Netflix.

For there are brave people out there with real reason to complain. But they don’t. They get on with it.

They put themselves in harm’s way & see death and suffering