Virtual Valentine’s Day: Show Your Healthcare Workers Some Love
This weekend is Valentine’s Day — a day to send thoughtful cards to loved ones, give a gift to that special someone, and eat candy hearts galore (within reason, of course).
It’s a day full of love, kindness, and gratitude. This year, during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, who better to send a heartfelt “thank you” to than healthcare workers?
Throughout the pandemic, healthcare workers across the nation have continued to go into work to care for patients, support one another, and ultimately keep everyone in the country safe.
In short, we couldn’t have done it without them.
This Valentine’s Day, let’s take some time to thank healthcare workers and show some (virtual) love. Here are 4 ideas to get you started.
1. Donate a meal.
Food is the way to many people’s hearts — especially dedicated healthcare professionals who work long shifts.
Back at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses, restaurants, and individuals across the country began sending pizzas, sandwiches, cookie baskets, and plenty of other snacks to local hospitals. It became a simple, COVID-friendly way to show appreciation for healthcare workers who might need a little extra fuel.
A year later, this is still a thoughtful gesture — especially on Valentine’s Day. As healthcare workers forego romantic dinners and time with their families, receiving a food donation can make them feel loved.
If you can’t decide on what type of food to donate — or you want to allow healthcare workers a little more flexibility — consider a gift card to a local restaurant instead.
2. Give them a shout out on social media.
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Vine have all played a critical role in spreading love during the pandemic. This Valentine’s Day, social media platforms are a great tool to show how much you appreciate all that healthcare workers do.
Sending encouragement to healthcare workers on social media is simple:
- Take a video or picture or find one online.
- Accompany it with a message that sends hope, encouragement, or gratitude — or all of the above!
- Post it to social media and tag the organization you want to thank.
3. Round up your kids, and send them a valentine together.
If you haven’t already, talk to your children about how much healthcare workers have done for us. Then, have them join you in saying thank you.
Whether your child wants to thank one healthcare worker or one hundred, sending a valentine can show how much they appreciate them. Ask your child if they want to send a valentine to their favorite nurse, physician, or staff member, and if they can’t decide, address it to the organization as a whole.
Due to COVID-19, it’s best not to drop valentines off in person. However, there are other COVID-friendly options. One option is to gather some paper, crayons, stickers, and any other art supplies, and have your child make a homemade valentine. Then, stick it in the mail and send it on its way.
Or, you can send a valentine virtually. Use a free valentine e-card service (like this one), or help your child craft an email and simply click send.
4. Most importantly — stay healthy.
As healthcare workers put hours upon hours into caring for patients each day, the most important thing you can do to show you care this Valentine’s Day is to stay healthy.
This means:
- Staying home, wearing a mask, and washing your hands frequently
- Getting your flu shot, if you haven’t done so already
- Staying up-to-date with routine check-ups, and using virtual visits when possible
When you and your family remain healthy, healthcare workers can dedicate their time to caring for other patients with COVID-19 and other illnesses — a Valentine’s Day gift that everyone benefits from.
This Valentine’s Day, take some time to show gratitude and love for everyone that has helped support our nation through this pandemic. In addition to healthcare workers, consider thanking others, such as grocery store clerks, mail and delivery workers, construction workers, and teachers.
It takes a village to endure a pandemic, and with support, love, and gratitude, we will make it through together.
From everyone at CareContent, Happy Valentine’s Day!
At CareContent, we help healthcare organizations develop and implement a web content strategy. Let us know how we can help your organization.
Our Team’s Jigsaw Puzzle Game Has Been Tight During COVID-19
Let me start by saying that I was into puzzles before they became big (#Hipster). I started doing the 1,000-piece ones as soon as the pieces were no longer a choking hazard. As a kid, it was a special time I got to spend with my mom. As an adult, it’s a stress reliever.
When quarantine was looming, I already had an arsenal of about 10 or 12 puzzles that I knew I could redo. But I wanted something new to look forward to — something other than the box of Fudge Stripe cookies and giant pack of Swedish fish I’d just bought. So I went to Target and made my way to the puzzle section (which I could do with my eyes closed).
Imagine my astonishment when there were zero puzzles left. Zero. None. Zilch. I checked Amazon. An overpriced toy store. Same thing.
This had never happened before. COVID-19 was already cramping my style. But this was the rotten cherry on top of my melted sundae. No puzzles? I was DONE.
My mom and I finally snagged a few left on the Barnes & Noble website and resigned ourselves to redoing old ones when these were finished.
Pandemic, Puzzles, And Profits
We were not alone. It seemed like literally everyone in the US had decided to jump on the puzzle bandwagon with an unknown number of weeks (hah — little did we know) at home on the horizon.
The US game company Ravensburger had a 370% surge in puzzle sales in the last week of March/first week of April, 2020. They were selling an average of about 20 puzzles per minute in North America, compared to 7 per minute in 2019.
Other companies saw similar increases. Some even reported an increase by as much as 1,000%.
Puzzle makers across the country struggled to keep up with the massive uptick in orders, partly due to problems created by the need to social distance in warehouses. But that didn’t stop these dedicated companies from committing to fulfilling orders. For instance, the online retailer Puzzle Warehouse went from selling about 1,000 puzzles per day to 10,000 each day — as well as experiencing associated shipping delays — leading them to hire 30 new employees.
The Health Benefits Of Jigsaw Puzzles
It’s not just that people were bored being stuck at home. Jigsaw puzzles actually have therapeutic benefits. Completing a puzzle has been shown to reduce stress — which is something almost everyone needs right now.
Other benefits include improvements in:
- Memory (especially short-term)
- Cognition
- Concentration
- Visual-spatial reasoning
- Problem-solving
- Creativity
- Productivity
If you have children at home, doing puzzles together is a great way to bond, teach them about collaboration, and get them off of their screens.
The CareContent Team = All In
Alright. Enough jabber about jigsaw. Take a look at how the CareContent team’s puzzle game was on point over the last few months.
We’ll start with Lynette. She may have only done one puzzle, but she made up for it by gifting one to Natalie, taking up arts and crafts, and choosing a super cute one for the one she did complete.
Let’s move on to Nicole. Nicole wasn’t as into the puzzles herself, but her [adorable] daughters were.
Okay, now we’re getting into the serious puzzlers.
Natalie did six puzzles.
This was from Lynette!
And this was from a team gift to Natalie and her husband, Brandon, who got married in 2020.
And now …
Yes, I wrote this article. But I’m going to be completely not humble and give myself the award for #1 Team Puzzler.
I did at least 12, but I didn’t take pictures of them all. Here are some of my favorites:
This is one I ended up hanging in my room.
This is one my family got my mom for Mother’s Day.
My tiny nephew did this one. I guess it runs in the family.
Even my cat, Twyla, got in on the game. And speaking of which, this is who I have to blame …
… for this CATastrophe (look closely):
Thanks, Twy. Thanks.
Anyway …
Happy National Puzzle Day from the CareContent team!
Read/Watch/Listen/Follow: Content We’re Into (February 2017)
As content creators, we’re constantly on the hunt for interesting and inspiring stories from wherever we can find them—the internet, a podcast, television. This enables us not only to keep up with but to lead relevant conversations on the people, events, and discoveries that are impacting our world.
Here’s what we’ve been devouring lately.
Jennifer, Content Director
Reading: A Star Trek “Section 31” novel called Cloak. Very mysterious stuff. Trekkies will know.
Watching: Who Are You, Really? The Puzzle of Personality, by Brian Little. A TEDTalk from a psychologist on what personality is—and how to transcend it when you need to.
Listening to: Billy Joel’s Greatest Hits. Vintage delight.
Following: Myths and Legends, a podcast about folklore from around the world. Dragons, wizards, knights, and more—fascinating stuff.
Ros, Web Content Specialist
Reading: “The Last Unknown Man,” a longform piece from the New Republic about a man who appears one day outside a Burger King in Georgia with no idea who he is…and it turns out that no one else knows his identity, either.
Watching: Superstore, a sitcom that follows a group of truly quirky employees as they navigate their careers at a Wal-Mart-esque store called Cloud 9.
Listening to: Justin Timberlake <3
Following: Politics. Sigh.
Sammi, Web Content Specialist
Reading: The Little Prince—a classic children’s book that I’ve never read. One of my best friends stayed with me over the holidays, and it’s his favorite book, so he gave it to me as a thank you for hospitality. I’m only halfway through it, but I like it so far. It reminds you of the importance of imagination and creativity.
Watching: Homeland. I re-watched the whole series in a little more than a month (yes, I need a life). It’s such a great show.
Listening to: Anything happy and upbeat. It’s a grim time of the year, so I need a little energy boost. And music’s the best way to do that.
Following: The hearings for who will be on the President’s cabinet. The people he picks will directly impact health and education, so I want a heads-up of what’s to come.
LaToya, Content Design Specialist
Reading: 100 Little Things About Pregnancy, Birth, And Being A First-Time Mom by Adriel Booker. She talks about her journey in becoming a first-time mom, from breastfeeding to post-partum recovery.
Watching: Moonlight—a moving story that follows a bullied young boy as he struggles with his identity. The story follows him from childhood to adulthood as he faces adversity and overcomes through the relationships that he develops along the way. It’s a very moving and emotional film.
Listening to: I have been listening to a lot of gospel music lately, artists such as Tasha Cobbs and Travis Greene.
Following: @frobabies on instagram. Frobabies is a clothing line, but they also post daily pictures of cute little babies and toddlers. Cutie overload.
Katie, Engagement and Analytics
Reading: I just started Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance. The memoirist is only 31 years old, but he grew up in Appalachia, and wrote this book to offer insight into what’s happening in the U.S. Politicians on both sides reference this book for explaining “what it all means”—how Trump won and why a sizable section of white America feels left behind.
Watching: The Parent Trap—the original, 1961 version. I watched this movie all the time as a kid, and now it’s on Netflix. Eight-year-old me is so psyched right now.
Listening to: A Spotify playlist I made of songs that calm me down. It’s been in heavy rotation lately.
Following: All of the rogue government Twitter accounts that have popped up when the President tried to silence the main accounts—from @RogueNASA and @AltNPS to @RoguePOTUSstaff and @Alt_CDC. This is a shining example of why social media fascinates me.
Read/Watch/Listen/Follow: Content We’re Into (November 2016)
As content creators, we’re constantly on the hunt for interesting and inspiring stories from wherever we can find them—the internet, a podcast, television. This enables us not only to keep up with but to lead relevant conversations on the people, events, and discoveries that are impacting our world.
Here’s what we’ve been devouring lately.
Jennifer, Content Director
Reading: Thank You For Being Late by Thomas L. Friedman. The author of From Beirut to Jerusalem explains why humankind’s legendary ability to adapt is now being outpaced by three “supernova” forces: technology, the market, and climate change.
Watching: NCIS: Los Angeles—just a dose of escapism. I occasionally fantasize about being Hetty Lange when I grow up.
Listening to: “Simon: Easy to See Why Some Loved Fidel Castro’s Cuba, Many More Fled“—an NPR piece on a reporter’s ambivalence during his trips to Cuba.
Following: All the new Joe Biden memes. Which are a scream.
Ros, Web Content Specialist
Reading: The Intimate Lives of the Founding Fathers by Thomas Fleming, which talks about the relationships several of our country’s original leading politicians had with the women in their lives, from their mothers to their wives.
Watching: The Galapagos Affair, a bizarre documentary about a group of men and women who moved to the Galapagos in the early 20th century to escape the hustle and bustle of early 20th century Europe, only for things to take a tragic turn when a mysterious woman arrived with two men (rumored to be her lovers) in tow.
Listening to: Justin Timberlake (*heart emoji*)
Following: Pretty much every BuzzFeed story about cats
Sammi, Web Content Specialist
Reading: About the electoral college. I’ve always known the basics, but I’m learning more about its creation and its purpose.
Watching: The Amanda Knox documentary on Netflix. Totally not guilty.
Listening to: “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays” by NSYNC. Best. Christmas. Song. Ever.
Following: The Epilepsy Foundation. November is Epilepsy Awareness Month, and I am so grateful for everything the Foundation has done.
Nicole, Multimedia Content Designer
Reading: “Vitamin D Linked to Longer Breast Cancer Survival.” A close family member of mine just underwent a double mastectomy to combat early-stage breast cancer, so this piece in The New York Times—based on research published in The Journal of the American Medical Association—hits close to home.
Watching: How Fidel Castro Went From Revolutionary to Ruler. One of the most polarizing political figures in history has passed away, and his legacy is now being questioned by many Cubans, Cuban Americans, and world leaders. This TIME Magazine video illustrates his rebel beginnings and political turns throughout his decades-long reign.
Listening to: Trinity Health’s Gilfillan optimistic about progress for healthcare. This podcast Q&A on Modern Healthcare talks to Livonia, Michigan-based Trinity Health CEO Dr. Richard Gilfillan on the prospects for healthcare system reform should the Affordable Care Act be repealed.
Following: Aaron Walter on Twitter. This guy is VP of Design Education at InVision, an innovative design prototyping company, and he actually started UX practice at MailChimp. Pretty cool stuff.
Katie, Engagement and Analytics
Reading: The Hundred-Year House by Rebecca Makkai, which is a pick from my book club that highlights exactly why I love book clubs. They expose you to books you may not have known about otherwise—in this case, the story of a haunted family and a haunted house, written by a local Chicago writer.
Watching: Black Mirror, a tech/sci-fi/thriller series that Netflix recently picked up. Each vignette is incredibly well written and acted—and all too possible.
Listening to: CBC’s podcast Missing & Murdered: Who Killed Alberta Williams? This series zooms in on the murder of an indigenous woman, Alberta Williams, in northern Canada. However, the coverage also touches on the disturbingly high number of missing and murdered indigenous women throughout the country.
Following: @LindaBlackElk on Twitter. Linda is an ethnobotanist on the front lines at the anti-pipeline camps at Standing Rock. She also runs the Medic and Healer Council at the camps.
