Dear Emergency Physician,

I want to write a letter of thanks for all the sacrifices you are making for our nation during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Thank you for all the lives you have saved.

Thank you for fighting your hardest to save the lives that were lost.

Thank you for putting the greater good of society ahead of your own health and safety.

Thank you for comforting your patients who are in pain and distress.

Thank you for consoling those who have lost loved ones.

Thank you for driving from store to store, begging for PPE for your colleagues.

Thank you for sleeping at the hospital for days in order to care for patients.

Thank you for coming out of retirement to serve on the front lines.

Thank you for leaving your homes each day not knowing if or when you will hold your children and see your spouse again.

Thank you to all the spouses and families who are staying apart to keep each other safe.

Thank you to all the parents who can’t be near their children because it is too risky to expose them.

Thank you to the adult children who are staying away from their parents to protect them.

Thank you for running toward danger when everyone’s instinct is to run away.

Thank you for carrying this burden and all the tears you have shed.

Thank you for nights you have lain awake thinking about ways to manage this pandemic.

Thank you for the piece of yourself you have sacrificed in this battle.

Thank you being the conscience of our nation.

Thank you for never giving up.

Thank you for taking care of one another.

Thank you for making me so proud to call myself an emergency physician.

My fellow emergency physicians, our nation and society will always be indebted to you for the sacrifices you have made and the countless lives you have saved.

We will get through this crisis together. E pluribus unum.

Gratefully,
Michael Ruzek, DO, FACEP
Chair, ACEP Young Physicians Section