A Bloomfield family has hung a public sign of support for frontline and essential health care workers, visible to a busy stretch of Prince Edward County roadway.

The sign created and installed by Ted Jubb, Denise St. Pierre and their daughter Natalie St. Pierre-Jubb caught the eye of Picton pharmacy technician Danielle Findlay who thanked the family for their support and, minding the rules of safe social distancing, snapped a picture of the family with their sign and sent it on to the Picton Gazette.

Natalie explained she and her parents have been following the news surrounding COVID-19 and the efforts to flatten the curve of the pandemic very closely. “We’ve seen the many stories of heroic health care and essential workers all over the world. We’ve seen stories of health care workers sleeping in tents, in their garages to keep their families safe and countless bruised faces from PPE, and overwhelmed essential service workers. They are all putting their safety on the line for us,” Natalie said. “We wanted to do something to show our gratitude for all that they do. We want every health care worker and essential worker to know that their work does not go unnoticed. We think of you often and we are overwhelmingly grateful for your work.”

If one looks closely, public signs of support for frontline workers can be seen in windows and doorways and even in shuttered store fronts in downtown Picton and Natalie is hoping that practice of publicly thanking those that go into battle every day to fight COVID-19 is continued.

“Hopefully our sign will inspire and encourage others to do the same and create their own signs. I think it can be a very fun activity for loved ones to do at home,” she added.”The workers are sacrificing so much and that’s why it is so important that we stay home and practice social distancing for them. Every day they sacrifice for us — time with their families and loved ones. We have to do our part by staying home to keep them as safe and healthy as we can so that they can return home to their loved ones.”

The efforts of those continuing to work on the front lines and in public is not lost on Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital Foundation Executive Director Shannon Coull.

Coull thanked everyone that are still serving the Prince Edward County community and taking great care in their practices to ensure the public can remain safe. Obviously, those staffing the last line of defence and the most critical facility in Prince Edward County always hold a special place in the Executive Director’s heart.

“Our staff at PECMH are incredible and their ability to maintain a positive attitude in the face off all this is wonderful. There aren’t enough words in the dictionary to describe the level of commitment and professionalism that the staff of hospital display each and every day,” Coull said. “Our frontline workers-the Doctors and nurses and PSWs all the way to our dedicated custodial staff who go above and beyond each shift to make sure we have the cleanest hospital around. Their dedication is not lost on me or to members of the public who are so thankful for them and what they do.”