Health care heroes: Showing the love

Sometimes, you just need a little encouragement.

“I had just come off a tough few days at work, and I couldn’t get my mind off how tough the weekend had been,” says Stephanie Lindquist, intensive care unit (ICU) nurse at Aurora Medical Center – Bay Area in Marinette, WI.

Lindquist’s 6-year-old son Carson had been wanting to make paper hearts to display in windows to help spread cheer, as many others across the area had been doing. She sat down with her son to come up with an idea to “make people smile and hopefully end their workday on a better note.”

Lindquist connected with ICU Nurse Sara Cate to team up to accomplish a lofty goal – creating 270 paper “thank you” hearts and, with their children, leaving the notes on team members’ vehicles during the day shift hours.

One coworker posted on Facebook: “I left work today to find this on my car. Made me smile after a long, stressful day.”

Another posted, “Walking through the hospital parking lot after work today… every car in the employee lot had a Thank You Heart under their wiper blade! The last couple of weeks for frontline workers has been very emotional… but then we remember we are all in this together. Thank you!”

Though times are uncertain, there is certainly a lot to be proud of and smile about right now.

“Everything from my coworkers stepping up to take extra shifts, making masks, organizing treat carts, to local restaurants providing free meals to health care providers, to the school district putting on a social distancing car parade through our hospital parking lot,” said Cate. “I’m proud of all of us. We’ve really shined through a not-so-bright time.”

Lindquist echoes Cate’s sentiment: “Seeing the community come together while staying apart gives me inspiration during this time. From individuals making masks, delivering goodies to essential workers, community members ‘adopting health care workers’, the local schools helping provide at-home learning for their students (along with free meals), encouraging signs hung throughout the community, and this is just a touch of all the positive things going on around the community.”