Let’s talk about COVID. I know, it’s all we talked about for five years, and many of us have moved on to new topics, but recently I was brought back into the world of COVID, if only for a conversation. It got me thinking: How exactly did our frontline workers stay motivated in the face of chaos week after week, month after month? Where did they draw strength from to continue their work while so many of us watched from our homes?
Ethan Greenblatt, Health Education Supervisor at the St. Louis County Department of Public Health, describes his pandemic experience and answers my question with one word: “gratitude.”
As he and his team made hundreds of calls a day, contacting tracing, coordinating testing, and supporting the community, the small moments of connection sparked by gratitude kept them all going. He recalled how hearing remarks like “you changed my life,” or “thank you for the work that you’re doing” was “super impactful.”
One specific moment that stuck with him was helping people experiencing homelessness obtain negative tests to be able to access shelters. Despite the many moving parts of this task, what stood out most to him was “how grateful people are. We are making a change in our communities.”
And even as a non-health care professional, I relate to that. When someone expresses their gratitude for my actions, I immediately feel more connected to them, a sense of shared humanity. And it goes both ways. Expressing gratitude, even for something small, often builds a brief but meaningful bond. I can only imagine the impact of hearing “you saved my life” as Greenblatt once did.
Greenblatt’s passion drove him through COVID and on to his next challenge, Mpox. Although this was a new infectious disease, Greenblatt pushed his team to adapt their COVID response to fit with the new threat.
“The team is now more centered around resiliency,” he explained.
Luckily, Mpox did not spread like COVID, but the lessons they learned left a lasting mark.
“We have more versatility and can kind of jump in where we are needed.”
COVID was an uncertain time for us all. But for healthcare professionals like Greenblatt, it also sparked something more enduring, a sense of purpose fueled by gratitude, adaptability, and connection.
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This blog post was written by Josie Miller, a student at Tufts University passionate about community health, storytelling, and honoring diverse lived experiences. This piece explores how real stories don’t just inform, they create connections, expand perspectives, and help build stronger, more compassionate communities.
