Thank You, Essential Workers!

During this difficult time, The Talon wants to say thank you to everyone that has put their life at risk to help keep our world together: medical professionals, grocery store clerks, restaurant employees, teachers, farmers, sanitation workers, and everyone in between. Thank you for being the world’s rock during such a dangerous and complicated time.

On social media, it seems like the world has come together to pay tribute to all of the essential workers who put their lives on the line everyday. Megan Perez, a Ferguson junior and part-time employee at Publix, describes some of the precautions Publix is taking to keep their customers and staff safe, “Publix has done an amazing job in providing their workers with items that keep their workers safe. Each store was provided with masks for workers in the case they didn’t already have their own. Each register also has hand sanitizer and cleaning supplies to wipe down registers when needed. Before any costumer walks in they are handed a shopping cart that has been wiped down by a bagger [and they] have put up one-way directional arrows on the aisles indicating which way everyone should be walking down the aisle to help keep safe distances. At the register they [also] have tape on the floor indicating 6 feet apart to ensure a safe distance between shoppers.”

In Spain, Dr. Gustavo Rangel describes how taxing it is to be in the medical field during a pandemic, “I think it has been a war that [the medical staff] has had to face and become the soldiers of this war. When time passed, I started to feel a bit weak, but not physically, if not mentally because [doctors] see many stressful situations and start feeling depressed because we see patients that have been in the hospital for 15 days in a grave situation, completely isolated and they could not have any contact with their family members, only through the phone and some patients had respiratory problems that prevented them from talking. When some patients passed, it was really difficult because on top of being isolated from their families for 15 days, when they die, they are put in a medical bag for these specific purposes with no funeral at all. There was a point that I felt very, very sad and stressed and I would go home to the support of my wife and the truth is that it is very sad the situation we are living in.”

These are the modern-day heroes that our society must look up to. They do so much to help the world during a time that can be mentally and physically-draining, which is something they couldn’t have anticipated when they started their job. Dr. Gustavo Rangel works from Monday to Friday, sometimes on weekends depending on how many doctors are in the hospital and works approximately 90 hours a week.

This is an extreme task to ask of anyone, but what this situation has shown is that, as a community, we must look up to and support people like Dr. Gustavo Rangel and Megan Perez. Next time you go to the supermarket, remember to say thank you because they’re risking their health every time they clock into work.