Letters: Gratitude for Mount Nittany COVID-19 unit staff; An overdue thank you for the kindness of strangers

Gratitude for Mount Nittany COVID-19 unit staff

I am writing to publicly thank and acknowledge the outstanding professionals at Mount Nittany Medical Center. Last week my mother died due to complications from the COVID-19 disease. As we went through the process of losing my mother, words can not adequately describe the efforts the staff made to allow us to stay connected to her.

The doctors, nurses, techs and staff were compassionate, supportive and selfless in providing both care to my mother and to us as a family. It reflected the very best in our health care professionals and their willingness to risk themselves in the care of others. Central Pennsylvania can be proud that the staff of Mount Nittany Medical Center work every day to make you healthier. I will always be thankful that my mother’s final days were made so much better by the care she received on the COVID-19 unit at Mount Nittany. Be careful. Be safe.

An overdue thank you for the kindness of strangers

Long ago, 1997, late one night in a snow storm, I made it to State College in a rental car from the Wilkes-Barre airport (or was it Allentown?) with two men I’d only just met. We had all missed the last flight out of Pittsburgh, and I was settling in to sleep on the floor of the waiting area when an airline worker brought news: Two men also trying to get to State College were taking the last flight to Wilkes-Barre (Allentown?) and renting a car – did I want to join them? I did.

I never got their names to thank them properly later, but I was in safe hands: One was coming home to his newborn child, and the other — driving — worked for the weather station, assessing highway conditions! I slept in the back, unafraid. They delivered me to the airport, where my parents’ second car — parents asleep at home — waited.

These strangers’ offer and their safe driving were gifts. I was coming for one of many visits during my mother’s long hospice period, a difficult time punctuated by occasional moments of grace like this one. Now during this strange time of the coronavirus, as I clear out files and organize memories, it occurs to me to try to thank these men. If they are still in State College and remember that snowy midnight drive, I hope they know that the woman passenger in the back seat has been forever grateful to them. Thank you.

This Memorial Day, remember our Gold Star families

When I returned home from Syria in 2019 my mother met me with tears in her eyes and a grateful heart. There are countless other parents, spouses, siblings and children across our nation who never felt the relief of welcoming their soldier home from war. These are America’s Gold Star families, those who have lost a loved one in our nation’s conflicts. Every Memorial Day we are often inclined to remember those who have fought and died for our country. It is important to honor them and preserve their legacy, but they will never hear our praise, as they have returned to the dust from which they were created.

What remains however, are their families. Parents, who will never be able to watch their child grow and mature. Spouses, who will never again experience the warm embrace of their partner. Siblings, who will yearn for the kinship they have lost. Children, who will mourn the love of their parent. They are the ones who truly made the ultimate sacrifice. This Memorial Day, please remember to thank and honor all of our nation’s Gold Star families. After all, it was a Gold Star family who began the first Memorial Day in Boalsburg in 1864.