Letters: Amid pandemic, they serve community with dignity, competence
Amid the bitterness surrounding the COVID-19 arguments about vaccinations, it seems that most of us may have lost sight of the countless real people doing the real work to save us from this pandemic.
To reassure readers, we wish to report our own experience, as aging seniors, responding to good advice from our medical advisors.
In February and March of this year, we took our first and second vaccinations. Advised by the St. Joseph County Health Department, we chose to go to South Bend’s St. Hedwig Memorial Center. Arriving just before our appointed time, we entered that large room full of dozens of people, working very quietly to process all the information-gathering, the injection itself and a brief wait to assure we had no adverse reaction to the dose. It was such an efficient system, functioning mostly with volunteers — a truly competent, reassuring experience. One month later, we reported there for our second shot — an exact replica of our first shot experience.
Then, this week we learned that St. Hedwig’s operation was no longer an option for our booster, so we went to a Walgreen’s pharmacy near our home, expecting a different experience. Wrong. Caring professional staff, Sara and Nick, made our experience just as comfortable as St. Hedwig’s volunteers.
Thank you to all, volunteers and professionals, who serve our community with such quiet dignity and competence.
Barbara and Reg Wagle
Mishawaka
In search of leadership
“Braun leading challenge to vaccination mandate,” read an article in the Nov. 4 Tribune about President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate (which is no mandate at all, since weekly testing is an option) on private business employees.
The article also mentions that Sen. Todd Young "…up for reelection in 2022, also joined the effort.” Sen. Mike Braun, Young, Gov. Eric Holcomb and Rep. Jackie Walorski — all stating opposition to the sort-of-mandate — aren’t leading anything or anybody. They are hiding behind Republican voters who have been misinformed and lied to by social media “influencers,” right-wing media and former President Donald Trump.
Leadership requires courage, vision, selflessness and a commitment to the greater good. “Leaders” should educate their supporters, promote their own choices to get vaccinated and urge them to consult their personal doctors, friends and relatives who have received the overwhelmingly safe and effective vaccines. The pandemic is not over, and the reason the deaths continue is precisely because there are still millions of unvaccinated people, continuing to be vehicles for the virus to transmit, mutate and survive. A true leader would take action to promote the safety of their supporters, not their ignorance.
Scott Thompson
Granger
This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Volunteers, professionals doing real work to save us from pandemic
