To the Editor:
Due to a malfunction in my intravenous feed line this morning, I had to pay a quick(?) visit to the emergency department at the hospital in Southampton. As I sat in the waiting room, a man wearing a face mask and carrying a cardboard box, approached the healthcare worker manning the front entrance screening station. “I’ve got a donation to make,” he announced unassumingly…”and I also want to write a cheque for the nurses.” That’s awfully nice,” the taken aback screener replied. “What do you have to donate?” she hastened to add.
“Oh, just some face masks and gloves,” the man answered as he reached for his pen and cheque book. “I thought the nurses could also have lunch on me — soup, salad, something like that.”
“Thank you again! Do you live here?” questioned the screener.
“No, I live in Woodstock but come to the area in the summer. I drove up this morning just to drop off donations in Walkerton and Southampton.”
If it had not been for social distancing, I would have hugged the guy and given him a handshake. Instead, I just waved and shouted “thanks for doing that!”
He acknowledged me with a nod of his head.
I think he also smiled underneath his face mask.
Dick Wright
Southampton
