A badge of courage

I need to vent, this morning. I just read about an ICU nurse who recently felt overwhelmed by the death of one COVID-19 patient on her watch. I know a couple of nurses. Thank God you aren’t one, and thank God for those who are.

Further, they see things from a COMPLETELY REAL viewpoint. How many times have you heard someone ask, “Did they have ‘underlying conditions’?” after someone died from COVID? The response from nurses is “What. Does. It. Matter? They’re DEAD and they died alone!”

So far, 215,000 people have died from the virus in the United States. Where’s the compassion? Where’s the empathy for the wife who lost a husband - the parents who lost a child - the children who lost grandparents? For crying out loud, those “underlying conditions” were UNDER CONTROL until this heinous bug invaded the body, screwed with the immune system and plugged up the lungs.

The answer has been repeated time after time by people who know: Social distancing - Wear a mask - Wash your hands - and be the unselfish person who cares enough about others to do those things! Frankly, a mask is the new Badge of Courage. Wear it with pride.

Doug Kaer

Spokane