Carson City, NV…Carson Tahoe Health, along with hospitals across Nevada and nationwide, are mobilizing to meet an unprecedented threat, the novel coronavirus and the COVID-19 outbreak. For those of us dedicated to healthcare, this is the professional challenge we hoped we would never face. This pandemic is straining healthcare workers worldwide, and that includes your local healthcare heroes right here in northern Nevada.

How our community responds to this challenge is more important than ever. Our healthcare workers are putting themselves and their families in harm’s way to care for the sick. We all know that the coronavirus isn’t just within the walls of our hospitals. Our healthcare providers and hospital staff are vital members of our great community with spouses, children, parents, siblings and everyday responsibilities. They, too, are shopping at the grocery store when needed, filling up their gas tanks, and struggling with schools being closed and children at home. We must support the healthcare workforce in our community, and we can’t do that without your help.

Let’s thank our stellar physicians, nurses, CNAs, therapists, and technicians who we are so grateful to have on the frontlines. Let’s also remember the unsung heroes behind the scenes, providing continuous support, so healthcare facilities can stay up and running 24/7. People who keep our hospital and clinics clean & sanitized, patients and staff fed, facilities operating, microscopes diagnosing, supplies stocked, phones and computers talking to each other, and leaders keeping us all working together. It takes a village, especially now, to succeed in this complicated and dynamic crisis. We must all do our part to keep these caregivers healthy.

We need you to be heroic and stay home. Yes! Disrupt your normal lifestyle. The coronavirus can’t replicate without a human host. You can stop COVID-19 by not letting it spread. Follow local and national social distancing recommendations, CDC, and WHO guidelines. Do not gather in groups. If you and your family can personally commit to doing everything in your own home to fight the spread of the coronavirus and flatten the curve, we, as your healthcare provider, can do everything in our power to take care of our community.

If there is a silver lining in all of this, it is a reminder of what wonderful things happen when communities come together in the face of a disaster. Stand with us in safeguarding the health of this community. Let’s work together to keep you safe. Let’s work together to keep our healthcare staff seeing patients, rather than becoming patients. Stay home for Nevada, and you’ll be our heroes.