As I am writing this, every hospital in the United States and Canada is under what some folks would call lockdown, shelter in place, or whatever the media word of the day is. Even small specialty hospitals are preparing for the worst that is yet to come. Metropolitan hospitals — especially in major cities — are in crisis mode, overflowing with desperately ill patients and, in most cases, short on needed supplies. If you work in health care, you do not need to watch the daily news. You are seeing it in real time, and we thank you for being on the front lines of this crisis.

It is amazing to those not in the health care field that the patient care providers they see on the nightly news are exposing themselves to a deadly virus that currently has no vaccine or cure. The word "hero" is most often used to describe the many patient care providers, from MDs to RNs to EMTs and so on down the line to those that support the mainline caregivers. While I do not disagree with the use of "hero," from where I stand, watching these fine professionals work to save lives, I use a different word. The word is "saint." Why? Romanian philosopher Sorin Cerin said it best, “Saints are those who managed to love more than we did.”

Our front line health care providers LOVE what they do. They know how important their jobs are and they knew when they signed on that there would be days and months like these. They are working themselves to a frazzle and putting themselves in harm’s way because they love their patients and their profession. Many of them consider themselves called to their profession and yes, this includes human resources.

The cure will come, but that takes time. Until then, those saints — be they doctors, nurses, PAs, medical assistants, other health professionals/hospital employees or HR professionals — working in COVID-19 hospitals/wards/crisis zones will stay on the front line until this crisis is over.

God bless you all and be careful out there!

Willis E. Tisdale, CHHR, PHR, SHRM-CP
ASHHRA President, 2020