Letters, May 7

Posted 5/6/20

Unprecedented time caring for our community

First, and most importantly, thank

you for staying at home to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our community!

It is critical …

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Letters, May 7

Posted

Unprecedented time caring for our community

First, and most importantly, thank you for staying at home to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in our community! It is critical that you continue to stay home, limit trips, and practice social distancing. Staying home is the single most beneficial action people can take for the health of our team members, your family, and of your neighbors.

Our nurses, physicians, and support staff continue to battle this invisible and insidious foe and work in ways we couldn’t have predicted three months ago. The community’s show of support with well wishes and donations provides much needed bright spots along the way. Please keep them coming.

We have a whole new appreciation for isolation masks and personal protective equipment. Your handmade masks are helping us, by protecting others. We’re distributing these cloth masks to our patients, and those who live with them, when they leave the Hospital and return to the community. Individuals who come for lab work or imaging studies also receive cloth masks for their safety and the protection of our team by reducing transmission of droplets that may contain the virus. When you wear a mask, it lets everyone know that you care, and that you are committed to making a difference!

Our staff’s commitment to teamwork, dedication, and ongoing training has enabled us to meet this crisis head on. Our nurses have stepped up to ensure that the safety of our patients is a top priority. In addition to their skilled clinical care, they provide the compassion that’s missing from loved ones who can’t visit. Our staff is using two-way technology to connect patients with their families. We will continue to put our patients first – each time, every day!

With the support of our sister Hospitals in Tower Health we will remain strong and prepared as we continue to wage this health care battle. Our staff, our neighbors, and local businesses have risen to the call and together we will prevail. Thank you!

Timothy Marks, MBA, MSN, RN, CEN, NEA-BC
Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer

Chestnut Hill Hospital-Tower Health

Thank heroes at 7 p.m. nightly

For these days of continuing isolation and social distancing, I have decided that it is finally safe to wear my New York Yankees baseball cap. This I choose to do each evening at 7 p.m. in support of fellow New Yorkers (my town of origin) who shout and clap each evening to support all the medical personnel who are helping all people affected by the global pandemic at great personal risk. Lately, I have wondered if James Joyce had it right when, in A Painful Case (from "The Dubliners" written almost a century ago) he said that “Every bond is a bond to sorrow." With that aphorism, he surely did not have pandemics in mind but, perhaps, keeping our distance in social relations.

For those of us who are nearing our own denouement (I am 92), it is an especially difficult time. Most of us would prefer to interact and talk with neighbors, attend concerts of the Philadelphia Orchestra, eat at the Tavern on the Hill, Cin Cin and Paris Bistro. We can only look forward to those days!

In the meantime, put on your Phillies cap and join me for a few minutes at 7 p.m. every night in front of your own homes and give thanks to all the medical personnel in New York and Philadelphia, as well as others providing essential services (e.g., trash collectors, mail deliverers, food service workers) who risk their lives to help all of us in this time of need.

Alex Bedrosian
Chestnut Hill

Please wear those masks!

I am a Mt. Airy resident and love living in this area. I am posing something to the Local that perhaps we can get an article in the paper related to all the people who are happily enjoying Valley Green/Wissahickon Trail and their daily inability to distance themselves on their walks/hikes. I have spent many a happy moment through the years in this beloved park and am a current member of FOW. However, we have not even moved out of the pandemic restrictions in this area, and so many people are moving freely without masks on. OK, perhaps they can't get one on their 3-year-old, or they are sick of being inside like all of us, and when they do come out, they throw all caution to the wind, but we must be vigilant as this pandemic has cost a lot of lives.

Could your paper make the call to remind people that they should still be social distancing, and if they aren't using a mask, please stay away from others? I myself know what Covid-19 is like, and it is truly a serious business. I urge our community to call on others to please be responsible. They could still affect others, and we should remain diligent until a vaccine is found. I am appealing to your newspaper to get the word out. I would hate to see people become infected, and the park would shut down. People need to know that this can happen. We have to move forward and think of others, our park and our community. I truly appreciate the platform and hope to "see" the Local for a long time to come!

Maryellen Norek
Mt. Airy

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