Candlelight for Healthcare Workers

 On Wednesday evening, we gathered outside the Cortez Hospital to light candles and pray for all of our community's healthcare workers.  20+ people attended, representing 3 churches--Methodist, Episcopal and Nazarene.  Jim Mimiaga from the local newspaper attended, took photos and wrote a generous article which can be found here https://the-journal.com/articles/194592

Early on in this pandemic--back in March and April--a great deal of attention and appreciation was shown to our healthcare workers.  People shouted from open windows and banged pots and pans each evening to show their support.  Meals were delivered to hospitals and clinics.  Banners thanking healthcare folks were hung from buildings and bridges.  All of this took place while our local Montezuma County, Colorado, numbers were very low.  We simply did not have the number of cases other parts of the country were experiencing.

Now we have the numbers!  600+ cases so far in a county of 26,000 residents = 2.3% of our county has tested positive.  As in all other areas, our number of cases is likely MUCH higher, as folks who are infected are often not tested--especially if they're asymptomatic.  The result of our area launching into a highly infectious stage of COVID is this:  Doctors, Nurses, Aides, Technicians, Pulmonary Therapists, Custodial staff, Cooks, Administrators--everyone is stretched to the limit of their endurance as case after case arrives in the Emergency Room.  

A person with serious COVID systems can require constant ER attention for hours before they are able to be moved to the nursing floor or transferred to another facility.  People with the most serious symptoms cannot be treated here in Cortez--so ER staff have to find a larger, better-equipped hospital to transfer the patient to.  Now the added stress is there are fewer and fewer hospitals who have room to accept patients from Cortez.  This disease is everywhere.  It is spreading like wildfire (and we know how quickly wildfire can spread--just look at this autumn's fires in northern Colorado!).  People in our community are not taking the threat seriously--and the burden ultimately falls on our healthcare workers.

A doctor friend says this:  "We are not the frontline of the virus.  We are your last hope."

Please, please, please wear your masks, sanitize your hands and keep physically distant from people you do not live with.  WE are the frontline in the fight against coronavirus.  Do your part so that you do not ever have to see the doctors, nurses and staff who are your last hope.

We'll be lighting candles and praying every Wednesday at 5pm throughout the holiday season.  Please come join us!  If you live in another community and are reading this--why not start your own candlelight vigil in your hometown?  Let the folks who are caring for our communities know that we see them, we know what they're going through, and we are praying for them every single day.

Peace and all good,

Pastor Jean