They answered the call: Our health
Scott LoBaido, 55, from Staten Island posts a large “Thank You” note dedicated to the health workers of the nearby Elmhurst Hospital Center in March.
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
The army of doctors, nurses,
lab technicians, orderlies
and other health care workers
of New York City were called
into duty like never before not
long after the first confirmed
COVID-19 case in the five boroughs
was detected on March
2, 2020.
We can think of no greater
group of individuals in this city
to honor, and we urge you to
join us in applauding the frontline
health care workers of New
York — our People of the Year
for 2020.
Why should they be honored?
Because they answered
the call when New York needed
them the most.
They answered that call despite
the dangers of the rapidspreading
virus with its debilitating
and lethal effects.
They answered that call at a
time when no vaccine was available,
and no one had an effective
treatment for those suffering
the most from the illness.
They answered that call as
more and more patients filled
their hospitals in the dark days
of March and April.
They answered that call at a
time when they did not have all
the necessary supplies to treat
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.12 COM | JAN. 8-JAN. 14, 2021
patients and protect themselves
while doing so.
They answered that call
even as their colleagues would
fall sick to the contagion themselves,
and too many of them
died as a result.
They answered that call
even while enduring the emotional
trauma of losing patients
Photo by REUTERS/Andrew Kelly
to COVID-19, and serving as
the final link between those
patients and loved ones unable
to see them in person but were
left to make their goodbyes via
cellphone or computer.
Countless health care workers
in this city, as they took on
this virus, sacrificed so very
much of themselves personally.
They took great pains not
to bring the virus to their loved
ones in any way.
Many stayed away from
loved ones in the groups most
vulnerable to contracting the
worst symptoms of the virus.
Some even isolated themselves
in hotel rooms and other places
to avoid bringing the contagion
home.
They missed holidays, birthdays,
weddings, funerals, other
family rites of passage because
duty called, the lives of New
Yorkers hung in the balance —
and they answered it with every
fiber of themselves.
Not since the horrors of Sept.
11, 2001 has the city witnessed
and appreciated such sacrifice.
On that day of tragedy, it was
the phalanx of police officers
Mayor Bill de Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCray visit NYC Health + Hospitals/Queens to applaud
and thank medical staff on Friday, May 15, 2020. Photo by Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Offi ce