Governor Mills: Thank a health care worker this holiday season.

The holiday season is a time of joy and happiness and hope. And these are the things I wish for all of you.

This weekend, many families across the State will gather with a few loved ones, friends or neighbors. But sadly, some families won’t be so lucky. Hundreds of people right now are fighting for their lives in hospitals across our state.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

Fighting right alongside those Mainers in the hospital are our heroic health care workers. Health care workers are the heart of our response to COVID-19. They’ve shown up on the frontlines for almost two years now to save the lives of Maine people, all the while sometimes enduring risks to their own health and the added pressure and stress of the job. While their work is meaningful beyond words, I want them to know how grateful we all are for everything they are doing.

So to all health care workers across the State of Maine – whether you are in a hospital right now, at a doctor’s office, in a nursing or assisted living facility, a vaccination site, in a counselor’s or therapist’s office, in someone’s home, or in the back of an ambulance, please know, from the bottom of my heart, that Maine is grateful for your service. You are the heart of Maine.

I also ask all Maine people this holiday season to join with me in thanking our health care workers, those who are bearing the greatest burden of this current COVID-19 surge.

Really, the best way to thank our health care workers, the best way to help relieve the burden on their shoulders is to heed their advice: get vaccinated. Get vaccinated so you can stay out of the hospital and so we can make room for others who are patiently waiting for medical care not related to COVID. Please. 

You remember, it was only through vaccination that we got through the ravages of polio years ago. It was only through mass vaccination that we rid the world of the deadly smallpox virus. And it is only through vaccination that we will rid ourselves of the coronavirus.

In addition to getting vaccinated, please keep your holiday gatherings small and safe, get tested before getting together if you can, and take precautions to keep yourselves and friends and loved ones healthy. This is just commonsense steps like wearing a mask, washing hands, and staying socially distant to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

So from my family to yours, I wish you a holiday of hope, happiness and good health. Please stay safe this holiday season. And please, thank a health care worker – those people who are spending these holidays taking care of our most vulnerable citizens.

And if you are so inclined, please say a prayer for the sixty or so people right now who are breathing only with the help of a machine in our intensive care units. And say a prayer for the ten children who have been hospitalized just this month with COVID, eight of them in the hospital right now as I speak. Four of these youngsters are fighting for dear life in pediatric critical care units. Most of those kids were just too young to get vaccinated. They are depending on you.

If you’re lucky enough to be eligible for this lifesaving medicine, please think of them. Please get vaccinated. The life you save may be your own. Or it may be a small child’s.

Your neighbors and your neighbors’ children are counting on you to keep them safe.

This is Governor Janet Mills. Please have a safe and happy holiday and thank you for listening.