Healthcare Workers: I Know it’s Your Job, but Thank You!

Dear Healthcare Workers,

While I’m at home quarantined with my family, you have to leave yours. Some of you have chosen to live somewhere else until this nightmare ends, in order to protect the ones you love the most. You give deep kisses and long warm hugs, not knowing if you’ll be able to do that in person ever again. So many of you FaceTime your family instead of reading them bedtime stories while they lay on your lap; because you want to protect them from this epidemiological disgrace.

You are sacrificing your loved ones time, your health, and possibly your life…for strangers. You are barely sleeping, and then waking up every morning to a never ending nightmare. You do all this with limited protective equipment and a reduced amount of colleagues, to fight this invisible killer. Yet, you persevere through the fear.

You hold the phones of your patients, so they can FaceTime their families (some for the very last time). You comfort those who are rightfully scared, and rejoice with those who are recovering. You give needles, set up I.V. Bags, monitor vitals, set up ventilators, do CPR, call Time of Death, take a breath of relief when the two cold metal defibrillators bring your patient back to a bouncy line on the monitor. You cry. You laugh. You love. You cry again and again. You want to wake up into a different reality. You want your family, your friends, and your more carefree life. You want people to stay home so you can do your job without the extra stress of more diagnoses.

Your heart is gigantic and your mind is empathetic. You show us all what it’s like to be a hero; even though you don’t do it for that title. You don’t do it for the praise. You do it because it is your calling. While you are fearful for your life; you are more fearful that you will not be able to help more people.

I know it’s your job, but Thank you! Thank you for doing so much more than your job. Thank you for holding the hands of your patients, for calming their fears, and for listening. Thank you for being on the frontlines of this war. Thank you for fighting for my family. I will do my part for you. I will stay home. I will be responsible. I will do what I can to make your lives easier. I will advocate for everyone to do just that. I will sacrifice seeing some of my own family members. I will sacrifice seeing my friends. I will do whatever I can to make sure you can focus on getting ahead of this plague.

Nothing will ever be enough to truly show my gratitude. Embrace your hero status, and be the badass rockstars that you are. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Gratefully and Lovingly, A Responsible Human, Mother, Wife, Daughter, Sister, Niece, and Friend