Today is Random Acts of Kindness Day, and the Chatham-Kent Ontario Health Team is using the occasion to honour the work done by local health care heroes throughout the pandemic.
CK-OHT Executive Transformation Lead Melissa Sharpe-Harrigan says there’s been a great deal of appreciation for those on the front lines, health care is a very broad sector.
“Lots of people think about either a hospital or family doctor or ambulance services when they think of health care, but it also includes community support services and home care and social supports and social networks to help people achieve their population health goals, and all of those services have been impacted by the pandemic,” Sharpe-Harrigan says. “In response to that we’ve really had to come together as a community to keep health care going, and I think we’ve really done that.”
Donald McLellan, general manager of Chatham-Kent EMS says it’s all about teamwork both on the front lines and behind the scenes.
“There is no cookie cutter approach to how we do things in health care, we have to adapt to the needs of our community but also adapt to what our resources and our capacity is,” McLellan explains. “One of the biggest things with the Ontario Health Team, even pre-pandemic, was bringing together the partners to provide health care solutions that met the needs of residents of Chatham-Kent, and then more importantly having that strong relationship coming into the pandemic, it was a success in providing solutions to make that work.”
The local Ontario Health Team is made up of over a dozen member agencies, ranging from the Chatham-Kent Health Alliance, the municipality, and local Family Health Teams to organizations such as the Alzheimer Society, Erie St. Clair Behavioural Supports, and March of Dimes.
McLellan says it’s been heartening to see tributes to local health care workers throughout the pandemic.
“I know my team here at CK EMS, we have received numerous notes of thanks and cards, local school groups and other youth groups coming by with gifts and food, that’s meant a lot for our team and it just gives us a reminder that we are all human beings, we are going through this together, it’s very touching to at least be thought of and to receive some kindness from the community.”
Sharpe-Harrigan says one of her favourite ways of people showing kindness through the pandemic has been what she calls “smile eyes,” where you can tell someone is smiling behind their mask. She says it’s such a simple gesture but means so much.
“I think for those front line workers who have to do their work, seeing smiling eyes behind the mask of their patients and the people that they serve is actually the best form of kindness we can provide. We all recognize that nobody asked for the pandemic and nobody wants to be in the situation that we are, but when we’re all working together from a place of kindness and being in that same, positive spot, then it certainly feels like we’re all in the pandemic together and we can get through it.”
