Showing appreciation

Rotary campaign puts focus on health care workers

They work long hours under stressful conditions, often with little time off to recuperate. Their family life has been thrown out of balance, and their social life for the most part has been closed down. While the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone to some degree, health care workers are at the vanguard in the effort to contain this disease and protect the public. Last month, Stacey Daub, CEO of Quinte Healthcare, gave a presentation to the Rotary Club of Picton on how the hospital staff in this region have been coping. Critical care and ICU nurses are frequently asked to work extra 12-hour shifts as an already busy system has been given the added responsibility of caring for patients transferred in from other areas. She indicated that staff morale is low, particularly those health care workers who deal with people who are dying alone with no family present. These workers are struggling to cope with the added pressure, and many are uncertain if the public is really aware of the stresses they face and what they are going through. After hearing the presentation, the Rotary Club members brainstormed on how the community could show its appreciation to these essential workers. “We came up with a number of ideas, We’ve got lawn signs that are going up all over the County, we’ve got two big banners that are on the fence on each side of the entranceway to the Picton Community Centre where the vaccination centre is, and we’ve got a banner that’s going over Main Street in Picton to express our thanks and gratitude for their sacrifices,” said Rob Leek, past president of Picton Rotary. “In addition, we’ve produced hundreds of apricot ribbons and we’re asking people to fly the ribbons—tie them around a tree, or on a flagpole, or place in a storefront—as a visible expression of thank-you to the health care workers.” The ribbons are available at Home Hardware in Wellington and Picton, at Green Gables in Bloomfield, and at Libby Crombie’s real estate office in Picton.

The campaign is County-wide, with the Wellington Rotary Club, Kinsmen and Kiwanis all joining in. “We’ve been humbled by the people who have responded to this with financial support. We had cheques in our hand within 24 hours, with many Rotarians making individual contributions,” said Leek. “We are also going to be sending personalized thank you cards to each of the health care workers, and we’re working with the Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital Foundation for that. We’re including a $10 gift card from Tim Hortons, thanks to Paul Massey.” They are also calling for testimonials from people who have a health care worker story they would like to share, and those can be submitted to the club’s website, pictonrotary.ca, or to County Radio FM99.3, 993countyfm.ca.

Some of these stories will be selected at random and the individual will be given a $50 gift card from Picton Home Hardware. “We may not know fully what health care workers are going through, because we don’t live it, but we can certainly appreciate the sacrifices that they are making on our behalf to keep us as safe as possible,” said Leek.

The campaign will last five or six weeks, and it comes at a time when traditional club fundraising activities have been suspended. The annual Lilac Ride has been cancelled, as was the popular Easter weekend waterfall tour. But the Rotary Club is still continuing with its community service work. The club is working on a project with the County Food Hub, and will be part of a cleanup of the Lake Ontario shoreline, collaborating with Robin Reilly at Sandbanks Provincial Park.