After more than 20 months of a global pandemic which has seen over 213,000 people infected with the COVID-19 virus across British Columbia, health care workers continue to provide front line support to care for all of those impacted by the virus.

In the spirit of this ongoing work being done at our local Lady Minto Hospital and health clinics here on the island led by doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, technicians and support staff, Salt Spring Island emergency first responders, members of the Salt Spring RCMP, Salt Spring Island Fire Rescue, BC Ambulance and Salt Spring Island Search and Rescue gathered today to offer an informal 'salute' to our local health care teams.

Emergency vehicles circled the hospital parking lot this afternoon around 3 PM with their lights flashing and the occasional siren to honour those members of our community who have been doing the good work of caring for us all through the ongoing health, social and economic turbulence we've all been experiencing. This display of support was intended to show health care workers that they are overwhelmingly supported for working as hard as they have through the pandemic and for how they continue to do so even as cases continue to be reported in our community.

Province of BC COVID-19 Dashboard as of 2021 November 15 / BC CDC