April 9, 2020

GRAVENHURST HEROES’ ‘SIREN SALUTE’ WAS LOUD AND PROUD

GRAVENHURST — There was no ‘Quiet Zone’ or signs indicating such so this afternoon on Kelly Drive.

It wouldn’t have mattered anyway — for a few minutes after 2 p.m.

Sirens wailed as eight emergency vehicles — led by a Gravenhurst Fire Department pumper truck, four OPP vehicles and three Muskoka Paramedic ambulances — paraded past the Muskoka Shores long-term care home.

The “siren salute” — loud and proud — was a show of solidarity for front-line health-care workers by fellow essential workers.

This as reports today say half of Canada’s more than 500 COVID-19 deaths have occurred in long-term care facilities. At Pinecrest Nursing Home in Bobcaygeon 30 people have now died and many staff have also contracted the coronavirus.

The loud and proud salute that began at 1 p.m. in Bracebridge travelled past the Pines, and picked up in Gravenhurst for a loop through the parking lot of the Granite Ridge retirement home before proceeding up Bethune Drive to Muskoka Shores.

That’s where they were greeted by more than two dozen of the home’s 175 employees who came out front in the driveway to wave and clap.

They gave a warm reception on a cool, windy afternoon.

So, how did they feel about the drive-by salute?

“It feels awesome, awesome,” said a worker holding up her smart phone.

And how’s it going inside?

“Good, very good.”

Are you taking good care of the residents inside?

“Yes we are.”

You’re heroes.

“Yes we are.”