STHS staffers get a hero’s welcome at Covington hospital
A pair of STHS colleagues arriving at work on Monday, March 30, 2020, are greeted with chalked messages on the sidewalk praising their efforts amid the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. (Photos and video by Tim San Fillippo)
By Mike Scott, mscott@stph.org
St. Tammany Health System colleagues arriving at work Monday morning (March 30) were greeted with graffiti outside the Covington hospital -- but the good kind.
Appearing overnight, messages chalked on the sidewalks leading to staff screening stations at the main hospital campus and the Medical Office Building across the street offered words of support for the hospital’s staffers as they continue to deal with the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak currently gripping the world.
“Heroes this way,” read one sidewalk message.
“Dedication, compassion, commitment,” read another.
“Smile,” read a third.
And that’s exactly what most colleagues did upon seeing the messages, according to Meghan Dove RN, who was staffing the hospital’s skybridge screening station Monday morning.
“It’s very uplifting and brought a huge smile to my face,” Dove said when asked how she felt upon first seeing them. “(They had me) wanting to come to work.”
“Feeling appreciated,” added fellow screener Aja Burns MA.
Others arriving Monday morning expressed similar sentiments, Dove and Burns said.
And who was responsible for the sidewalk art gallery?
After some cajoling, Cancer Services Department Head Paula Day – who insisted she wanted the focus to be on STHS’s healthcare heroes and not on herself -- admitted she, a friend and STHS Infection Preventionist Jamie Bertrand chalked the messages, a process that took a total of about four hours.
Plans are in the works to leave similar messages at other STHS facilities, she said.
The overarching message Day and Bertrand are hoping to send is a simple one.
“That we care,” Day said. “That we realize this is a hard time for everybody. We want to let them know what they’re doing is making a difference.”
For the latest on the COVID-19 coronavirus in St. Tammany Parish, visit STHS.org/COVID-19.