Today at The City Club of Cleveland’s virtual forum, “State Policy During a Pandemic,” our president and executive director John Corlett suggested that, when we’re on the other side of this public health crisis, we should have “community claps” for health care workers and first-responders. What a great idea.
We should have “community claps” for health care workers and first-responders.
Imagine: After days, weeks—months?—of seeing people sick, crying, dying—perhaps knowing there was very little you could to do help them—you go to work one day and there, lining the sidewalks, you see people smiling, cheering, clapping. Why? To thank your organization. To thank your coworkers. To thank YOU.
We’ve seen it before. Communities line up to welcome children back to school and encourage them to do their best. Communities line up to thank firefighters who’ve shown heroic courage. Communities fill the streets to congratulate sports teams for winning a trophy.
Helping save lives during a global war against a killer virus certainly deserves just as much—dare I say, more—praise.
Really, we can all thank first-responders and health care workers every day during this pandemic. By doing what we’re advised—staying home, washing hands often, keeping safe distance—so that we don’t need their attention and they can focus on the emergencies they see minute-by-minute.
Do you have any ideas? Please share them.
And we can create more great ideas, like community clapping, of how to thank them when we’re on the other side. Do you have any ideas? Please share them.
