By: Lauren McRae

JOIN US: Monday, March 22 at 9 a.m. 

As NorthShore marks the one-year anniversary of our COVID-19 response this week, we ask you to kindly join us in a one-minute moment of silence to reflect on and recognize the unprecedented loss we faced inside our doors and across our communities, and the incredible emotional strain this placed on our frontline care teams.

Collectively, our health system has lost more than 550 patients to the virus to-date, forever changing the lives of surviving family members and friends. And since the start of the pandemic, we have admitted and cared for more than 2,500 patients inside our hospitals.

Beyond the loss of life and the health challenges COVID-19 created, we also reflect on our shared loss of normalcy. The lockdown initiated one year ago severely curtailed freedom of movement for all of us, shutting down our lives in ways never experienced for multiple generations.

It transformed the way we work, the way we learn, the way we socialize and interact with others. Additionally, the economic losses have been devastating, expressed through record-high unemployment and curtailment of mass gatherings and many forms of social engagement—reshaping work, home and life.

While COVID has had a major impact on all of us this year, we still remain hopeful in the future. 

As we mark the one-year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic this week, let us take a moment to reflect on the losses we have experienced.

• We’ve all been affected by the pandemic; no one among us has been left untouched by this terrible virus.
• Some of us have lost loved ones, friends and/or colleagues to COVID-19.
• We’ve felt anguish and sorrow to hear of the passing of those known to us as well as the overwhelming numbers of death worldwide.
• We have experienced the loss of our daily routines at work and at home to one degree or another as the way we were accustomed to interacting with one another changed dramatically.
• Many of us have experienced a sense of isolation.
• We’ve felt fearful and anxious about contracting COVID-19 ourselves and about not knowing when the pandemic would end.
• Many have been impacted by financial losses. Family members or friends have lost their jobs or experienced a reduction of hours or pay.

Please take a moment of silence to acknowledge and honor all that has been experienced and lost during this past year. In doing so, we share in our understanding of this pandemic to be a tragedy of enormous proportion and consequence.

At the same time, we take to heart, acknowledging that in the wake of tragedy we have the capacity for remarkable resilience and growth.