Chris Evans

Chris Evans

To risk one’s life to save that of another is something I imagine most of us have contemplated. To save the life of someone we know and hold dear, especially our children or children’s children. To risk one’s life for a stranger, however; I wonder how many of us could even come close to putting our hand up for that?

This is precisely what military personnel sign up for, of course. It’s the driving force behind everything they stand for. As it is for members of the fire service, the lifeboat service and the police force, not to mention our dedicated coastal and inland search and rescue units. But it’s really not what the hundreds of thousands of frontline NHS staff signed up for. To save lives and comfort and care for the sick and dying, yes. But at the risk of losing their own? No, that was never part of the deal.

And yet look at how selflessly and unconsciously these criminally underpaid, underappreciated, overworked, everyday heroes have cast aside concerns for their own mortality to face whatever new terrors the coronavirus spits at them, on a minute-by-minute, shift-after-shift, day-after-day, night-after-night, twenty-four/seven basis. What these amazing human beings are doing is beyond incredible.

But of course, what’s really happening is far darker than that. A lot of our frontline NHS miracle workers are risking their lives not even to save lives but simply to operate various machinery, mostly ventilators and intravenous drips, while nursing patients who are almost certainly not going to make it.

How precisely the virus came about, how much effect the worldwide lockdown is really having and how this pandemic will finally play out is anyone’s guess. Frankly, no one really knows anything for certain about the virus itself. If they did, surely they would be screaming it from the highest rooftops. The world is (literally) holding its breath, waiting to see what happens.

However, here’s what we do know.

We know that simple actions at the base level of prevention give us the best chance of buying as much time as possible to help those on the front line to help save us. It’s not rocket science, but it is science. It’s a simple fact of washing our hands, staying home and physically distancing from each other if/when we do venture out. (I don’t know about you, but ironically, it seems the more physical space we give ourselves, the closer we are becoming both emotionally and spiritually.)

We also know that most of us are incapable of comprehending what kind of mindset and sense of purpose it takes for our army of NHS brothers and sisters to simply ‘keep showing up’ and contending with the horror of interminable disease while often unable to do little more than temporarily postpone the merciless inevitability of unavoidable, certain death.

It is, therefore, our unequivocal, unanimous and united duty to let each and every one of our priceless doctors, nurses, carers, consultants and all of their support staff and services know that we will be forever indebted to them and that we love them. That’s right, we must show them that we actually love them.

However you see fit, whether it’s via a handmade poster in your front window, a flag flying from the roof of your van or a salute every time an ambulance or paramedic passes you in the street, it is your and my duty to LOVE THE NHS.

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