As part of the initiative, WakeMed doctors, nurses and staff working at the New Bern location were treated to a delicious lunch Thursday of wraps, salads, sushi, and pizza from Ruckus Pizza.
"This is the least we can do," Robert Royster with Ruckus Pizza said. "This is our way to give back to the guys on the frontline that are just so important to get through this pandemic."
Over the last eighteen months, the COVID pandemic taking a toll on morale among these frontline workers.
"We're in survival mode inside of the hospitals," Dr. Lindsay Boole with WakeMed said. "So we're currently just trying to get enough, good enough doctors and nurses to take care of the patients we have every single day and we're not quite at the place yet, that we can look towards getting better."
Besides food from Ruckus Pizza, the hospital staff was also treated to care packages and notes of thanks, along with handwritten card cards from Ms. Beck's 3rd-grade class and Ms. Hayes 5th grade class at Oak Grove Elementary School.
These acts of kindness lift the spirits of healthcare workers, and they say what also will help is for those in the community to do their part.
"The heartbreak and devastation of these families over the last eighteen months has been devastating, but we have a weapon to fight it and it's the vaccine and it's very important that we, we go out and get vaccinated," a PA with WakeMed, Jason Wieland, said.
This is just the first of many thank you lunches and cards of encouragement for our frontline workers this month.
You can still contribute, by sending a thank you message here to our healthcare heroes.