Being Thankful

Last year at Thanksgiving, we as a country were under lockdown. We could not meet our loved ones and virtual thanksgiving dinners replaced the traditional gatherings.  No one knew what the future would hold. We could not in our wildest of imagination think a virus would cause such massive worldwide lockdowns. Today, we as a nation and the world are in a better place. The unknowns that we had about Covid 19 are clearer, we have vaccines and other new treatments on the horizon to battle the scourge that caused the worst pandemic yet known.

Humanity is resilient and we survived!  We found support in unlikely places.  In healthcare, we supported each other and realized we had a larger family that we never knew existed. We were and are thankful for each other.  We found new friends.  Lives changed.  Yes, today at the table we may not have loved ones who lost their fight against Covid, some before the vaccines and some after the delta variant.  We remember them all.  We remember all the battles we fought in our ICUs and hospitals for those on the hospital beds.  We were not looking for accolades, a simple thank you would have been enough.  Unfortunately, because of the misinformation about Covid 19, we were constantly having to prove that we were doing the right thing.  A patient’s daughter told me that her mother on that ICU bed was her loved one and for us as the medical team she was just a patient. My response to her was that every patient in this ICU is treated like a loved one as we put a lot of time and energy in caring for these patients. The care we deliver to a patient with severe Covid 19 can only be done if we treat the patient like our own loved one.

We had thankful families who brought donuts, bagels and pizzas demonstrating their support to us, for all that and the positive sentiments we are thankful. This thanksgiving we can meet and hug our loved ones. We can be close to them and share food at the same table.  We are thankful to the scientists and companies that helped develop and distribute the vaccine including those who helped evaluate the vaccine.  We are grateful to all the dedicated individuals in healthcare who  administer the vaccines in malls, community, mobile clinics and pharmacies so we can once again return to some normality of life.

I am thankful to all those who have made these last 18 months of Covid 19 bearable –  family, friends and everyone who collaborated with me tirelessly for a better tomorrow.  Hug your loved ones tighter, enjoy the meals, the voices the conversations around dinner tables and let laughter fill our homes.  We can now understand the significance of thanksgiving as we too survived just like those who gave thanks as they survived in a new land.  We have a new era – the post covid 19 world and how it has changed us. Enjoy this thanksgiving and do not forget the healthcare workers who have worked and continue to work on thanksgiving.

May God bless us all.