Page 12 - BusinessWest October 12, 2020

Editorial
BTrue Heroes Emerge During Crisis
BusinessWest
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ack in the spring of 2017, as BusinessWest and its sis- commendable job.
ter publication, the Healthcare News, were preparing These stories are, in a word, inspirational, and they clearly con- to launch a new recognition program focused on the vey both the depth of the crisis and the determined, imaginative
region’s large and critically important healthcare sector, the responses to it. These stories are touching, but they are also power-
magazines hosted a meeting with members named to an advi- sory board assembled to help guide the initiative off the draw- ing board.
The first question asked at that session concerned the name given to the program — Healthcare Heroes. “How do you define ‘hero?’” one panel member asked.
The reply was that the magazines wouldn’t be defining ‘hero.’ That task would fall to those nominating individuals, groups, and institutions, and the judges assigned the task of evaluating those nominations. In short, the answer to that question was ‘heroism is in the eye of the beholder — and there are heroes all across the broad healthcare sector in this region.’
Never has that sentiment been truer than during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Indeed, for this year’s program, the magazines opted not to use the traditional categories that have defined this program, such as ‘Caregiver,’ ‘Emerging Leader,’ ‘Innovation in Healthcare,’ and even ‘Lifetime Achievement,’ and instead seek general nominations involving those who in some way stepped up and stood out during this pandemic, on the theory that heroes came in all kinds of cat- egories this year.
And we were right. Nominations were submitted for both indi- vidual EMTs and the CEOs of medical centers; for manufacturing companies that shifted their production lines to make PPE and individual home healthcare providers; for entire staffs at local hos- pitals and specific teams at area service providers.
Everyone nominated this year is a true hero, and the judges had a very difficult time deciding which stories were truly the best. But as the accounts that begin on page A5 reveal, these judges did a
Editorial
BA u s i n e s s e s S t i l l N e e d S o m e H e l p
ful in that they reveal the kind of dedicated, creative, and, above all, compassionate individuals working within the healthcare sector in this region.
The stories are all different, but the common theme is individu- als, groups, and organizations seeing needs in the midst of this generational crisis, and rising to meet them, such as:
• The staff at Holyoke Medical Center coming together under very trying circumstances to take in residents of the Holyoke Sol- diers’ Home at the height of the tragedy there;
• Three patient advocates at Berkshire Health Systems leaving their behind-the-scenes jobs to become frontline nurses at a BHS facility on the other side of the state;
• Home health aide Jennifer Graham, a junior at Bay Path Uni- versity, volunteering, when few others would, to work at emergency tents set up to care for the region’s homeless population;
• Baystate Health President and CEO Mark Keroack providing needed leadership to not only his institution, but the region and state as the pandemic reached this region last spring;
• The Nutrition Department at Greater Springfield Senior Servic- es Inc., which creating new programs and protocols to ensure that hot meals were delivered to the area seniors who need them; and
• Rabbi Devorah Jacobson, director of Spiritual Life at JGS Lif- ecare, who stepped into the breach and provided needed guidance and support to residents, family members, and especially the staff members providing services at the height of the crisis.
These are just some of the stories in our special section intro- ducing the Healthcare Heroes of 2020 that will resonate, possibly generate tears, and certainly leave you proud of this region and those individuals and institutions serving it. v
mid a tumultuous presidential trouble around the corner. Fall is here, and sible will only ratchet up those efforts even election, the contentious plans winter is right behind it. A second wave of further.
to fill a Supreme Court seat, and the virus is predicted, and some would say In this climate, businesses, nonprofits,
continued upheaval on the broad mat- it is already here. And while some states and, yes, individuals will need additional
ter of racial equality, additional stimu- lus measures to help individuals and businesses weather the pandemic have seemingly been pushed to the back burner, if not off the stove.
Indeed, while there are almost weekly pronouncements of optimism that a stimu- lus package may soon be passed, overall, there seems to be little actual movement toward getting a deal done, even as the pandemic shows no signs of easing and the announcements of massive job cuts — the latest from the likes of Disney and several of the major airlines — continue to domi- nate the business news.
In our view — and in the view of untold numbers of owners of businesses both large and small — this is no time to be tak- ing our eyes off the ball. Despite some pro- testations to the contrary, COVID-19 is far from over, and help will be needed before there are more business failures.
That’s because ... well, anyone can look at a calendar and see that there’s more
are actually loosening restrictions on what businesses can open and under what cir- cumstances, the threat of another shut- down like the one that crippled this state’s business community looms large.
The harsh reality is that many, if not most, businesses have not come close to recovering the losses they’ve sustained over the past six to seven months. We’ve inter- viewed business owners across virtually every sector of the economy, from printers to restaurateurs to banquet-facility opera- tors, and many are reporting that revenues are down 60%, 70%, or even 80% or more from last year.
And, as we said, winter is coming, which means restaurants that had been hold-
ing on, or nearly holding on, with outdoor dining will have to close those areas soon. It also means all events have to move indoors, which means, essentially, there can be no events. It means businesses and individuals that are hunkering down and reducing their spending in every way pos-
support. Individuals will need stimulus checks and unemployment benefits — per- haps not the additional $600 a week that has hampered efforts to bring people back to the workforce, but some assistance.
And small businesses especially will need another round of Paycheck Protection Act support. Those checks bought business owners some invaluable time during the height of the crisis, and from all indica- tions, more time is needed.
No one knows when the pandemic
will actually subside and we can return to something approaching normal. What is now clear, at least to most observers, is that this won’t happen anytime soon. This busi- ness of printing money and incurring tril- lions of dollars in debt to help people and businesses through the crisis is at the very least unnerving and perhaps dangerous. But now that we’ve started down this road, we have to stay on this path and do what’s needed to minimize the damage from this generational catastrophe. v
12 OCTOBER 12, 2020
OPINION
BusinessWest