An open letter to healthcare workers from the NCCIH

Press Release

October 2021

On behalf of the National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health (NCCIH), we would like to express our deepest and most sincere gratitude to healthcare workers for their ongoing commitment and dedication to providing care throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

Despite being exhausted from working long hours in difficult conditions, you continue to show up on the frontlines to provide compassion and care for our families, loved ones, Elders and our communities. Over the past 18 months, you have been putting yourselves at risk to keep us safe. Your courage and resilience does not go unnoticed. You deserve our appreciation, respect and support during these extraordinary times.

Not so long ago we celebrated you, our healthcare workers, by drumming outside of hospitals, clapping, banging pots and pans and loudly cheering from our balconies. We call on communities to once again come together, whether that’s virtually or physically distanced, to acknowledge and celebrate our healthcare workers. We need to care for those who care for us.

The National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health (NCCIH) supports and stands in solidarity with healthcare workers and patients accessing healthcare. In the words of BC’s Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, we must “be kind, be calm, and be safe” as we weather the fourth wave of this pandemic.

Sincerely,

— Dr. Margo Greenwood, Academic Leader
National Collaborating Centre for Indigenous Health (NCCIH)

IHT5

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