14 THE QUEENS COURIER • JANUARY 7, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
People of the Year
Photo by Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Offi ce
They answered the call: Our health
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Th e 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 aft er the
fi rst confi rmed COVID-19 case in the fi ve
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.
Th ey answered that call despite the dangers
of the rapid-spreading virus with its
debilitating and lethal eff ects.
Th ey answered that call at a time
when no
v a c -
cine was
available,
and no
o n e
had an eff ective treatment for those suffering
the most from the illness.
Th ey answered that call as more and
more patients fi lled their hospitals in the
dark days of March and April.
Th ey answered that call at a time when
they did not have all the necessary supplies
to treat patients and protect themselves
while doing so.
Th ey answered that call even as their
colleagues would fall sick to the contagion
themselves, and too many of them
died as a result.
Th ey answered that call even while
enduring the emotional trauma of losing
patients to COVID-19, and serving
as the fi nal 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, sacrifi ced
so very much of themselves personally.
Th ey 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.
Th ey 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 fi ber of themselves.
Not since the horrors of Sept. 11, 2001
has the city witnessed and appreciated
such sacrifi ce. On that day of tragedy,
it was the phalanx of police offi cers
and fi refi ghters who ran into the World
Trade Center, at risk to themselves, when
everyone else was running out; though
the attack cost 3,000 lives, tens of thousands
of others were saved through such
heroism.
Th e COVID-19 pandemic wrought
incomprehensible devastation on our city
during the fi rst wave. Now, amid the second
wave, the frontline health care workers
fi nd themselves sacrifi cing themselves
once more to save lives as more patients
enter their hospitals, clinics and offi ces.
Th ey keep running into danger as the
rest of us socially distance, mask up and
look to keep away from it. Th at is the very
defi nition of heroism.
In the days of spring, New Yorkers
began holding a public salute at 7 p.m.
each night to thank these special people
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 Evelyn Chassagne
Staff at Wyckoff Hospital “worked as hard and as much as they can to try to save the lives of all the infected
patients,” said Dr. Gustavo Del Toro, executive vice president and chief medical offi cer of the hospital.
Courtesy of GatewayJFK
GatewayJFK executive director Scott Grimm-Lyon (r.) joins
frontline workers at Jamaica Hospital after delivering hundreds
of meals.
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