Lincoln community cheers on workers for Hospital Hero Appreciation Week

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) -For Hospital Hero Appreciation Week, different groups are finding ways to honor Lincoln hospital workers as many are still fighting on the front lines of the pandemic.

Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird declared November 15-19 as the official week to honor those heroes. As a way to say thank you, the Community Health Endowment is joining other organizations in Lincoln to cheer on hospital heroes who are starting or ending their work shift.

“It’s easy to go to the hospital and just get lost in the environment, the patients and the stress, but coming out and seeing this and the joy, it’s crazy,” said Kaylie Reynolds, a patient care technician at Bryan Health East.

Each organization adopted a hospital shift at CHI Health St. Elizabeth and Bryan Health hospitals. Some, like Pinnacle Bank, are standing outside with signs of support and giving tokens of appreciation like Starbucks gift cards.

“It’s really our honor and pleasure to just to show a little thank you, and we appreciate so much everything that they’re doing, have been doing, and continue to do,” said John Laflin, president of the Lincoln market for Pinnacle Bank.

In addition to bringing hospital workers joy, they are handing out personal thank you cards. The Community Health Endowment provided free cards and encouraged the entire community to write a note of thanks earlier this month. They surpassed their goal of 5,000 cards. The president, Lori Seibel, loved seeing everyone rally together and give support to hospital heroes.

“I read through so many of the postcards and in them, I just found so many heartfelt words of appreciation from the mayor to a kindergarten student,” Seibel said.

Each group that shows up to celebrate encourages hospital workers to keep going even in tough times.

“Even after a long hard day, I get to walk out to this joyful setting, so that meant a lot,” Reynolds said.

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