By: Jennifer Ellison
There’s no denying that 2020 was a difficult year for the entire world, possibly one of the most stressful and difficult in decades.
With the emergence of Coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, healthcare workers around the country scrambled to take care of their ailing patients, all while striving and struggling to maintain their own mental sanity and wellbeing.
In many ways, working in the healthcare industry is a thankless job, but one the dedicated professionals within dedicate their lives to.
It’s their mission to oversee to the health of everyone who comes seeking their assistance and they do so with full investment, regardless of gratitude.
Even so, anyone who’s ever done a favor for anyone else knows how nice it is to receive a thank you for their efforts.
And on June 1st, the staff at the Williams County Combined Health District received just such a thank you in a way they couldn’t have imagined.
The talented and big-hearted students at Edon Northwest Local School surprised the staff by presenting them with a homemade yard sign stating “THANK YOU” and a plethora of handmade and colorful notes thanking the staff at the department for everything they’ve done to help keep them and their families safe as we navigate a difficult time.
When asked how she felt about it, Health Educator Taylor Pratt said “It was super great to see all the thank you notes, the gesture was very nice. It’s always nice to feel appreciated by the community.”
Ms. Pratt said that the gesture was a complete surprise by the students.
In a time when everyone feels the strain and burnout over the same frightening issue of the first major pandemic in centuries, there can be no greater stress than watching it play out among the people you’re trying to protect and educate.
However, it just goes to show that even the tiny morale boosts from the littlest of people can have the biggest impacts and we should all remember that small gestures can go a long way toward brightening the day of a stranger.
Jennifer can be reached at publisher@thevillagereporter.com