Lin Hylton and Keith Barton live in an apartment near Regina General Hospital. Every evening at 7 p.m., they go up to their balcony with a horn, a bucket and a wooden spoon to encourage the nursing staff at the hospital.
It was happening everywhere
, said Ms Hylton. My husband and I talked about it and we were like, why can’t we do this here?
Now their neighbors are getting involved too.There are about five people going out every night, but the highest turnout is Friday night.
said Barton.
In the summer, it was easier to get people involved, says Hylton, as pedestrians outside heard and made noise themselves. The cold climate, however, made it more difficult to make noise.
This is something we need to work on more if we want more people to leave our place of residence.
, she said. All you need is flyers. We did a few, and that’s how Friday nights got more important.
Saskatchewan now leads the country in the number of COVID-19 cases per capita.
As of Saturday, there were 4,043 known active cases across the province and 199 people hospitalized with the disease, including 35 in intensive care.
To date, 212 Saskatchewan residents have died from COVID-19.
Doctors, nurses, healthcare workers – we’ve known from the start that they put themselves at risk on our behalf
said Barton.
I think it’s important that we go out … even if they can’t physically hear us
, he said, to let workers know that there are people out there who enjoy what they do
.
Going to cheer on healthcare workers created a sense of community, according to Ms Hylton – especially in the early days of the pandemic. She never had this feeling anywhere she had lived before.
The couple didn’t miss a single night, including when a massive storm hit the province earlier this week.
We go out no matter what. It’s not like we have to cross the prairie. We are on a balcony and we are protected. There is no reason why we should not go out.
They both want frontline healthcare workers to know they are grateful for their courage and the work they do.
I don’t know how they do
, said Ms Hylton. It must be really stressful. But they do and inspire us deeply.
With information from Shauna Powers
