Not all the news has been depressing. After another long week of anxiety-creating reports about COVID-19, we offer a reminder that there are good people working to help others. Therefore, we present nothing but cheers this week:
Cheers: To Jennifer Patton. The elementary school art teacher has been picking from her garage full of costumes and going for a bicycle or tricycle ride each day through her Edgewood Park neighborhood. Recently, she has dressed up as an octopus, Glenda the Good Witch and Evel Knievel. “This is what I can do. It’s something simple,” Patton told reporter Katie Gillespie.
The result is friendly smiles and waves from neighbors — at a distance, of course. “Their faces beam,” Patton said. “Everyone keeps saying, ‘This is the high point of my day.’ ” Patton’s fanciful rides remind us of the importance of human interaction, even during a quarantine.
Cheers: To pitching in. Spurred on by Margaret Rice of the Washougal School District, schools in Washougal, Ridgefield and Vancouver have donated unused medical equipment to Legacy Health. The tally after school officials rummaged through supplies for health and science programs: 166 pairs of protective glasses, 141 boxes of gloves, 1,930 masks, 13 bottles of hand sanitizer and two boxes of technology wipes.
Medical facilities are reporting shortages of supplies, particularly personal protective equipment for workers. Legacy Health is accepting sealed personal protective equipment: giving@lhs.org or 503-415-4700. PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center is accepting lab testing supplies, protective equipment and sanitation material. Contact rssw-covid19-swsupplies@peacehealth.org.
Cheers: To toilet paper. Yes, toilet paper has become an unexpected symbol of the coronavirus outbreak, with customers cleaning out store shelves. That has been good news for American Paper Converting Inc., a toilet-paper-cutting company in Woodland. The company has been working around the clock and has hired additional staff.
American Paper Converting mostly finishes paper for businesses, hospitals, hotels and janitorial companies rather than store shelves. “Hospitals need toilet paper really badly,” owner Lydia Work said. “We’re serving the medical field, and that’s an essential service, so we’re an essential service.” Meanwhile, Work said, there is no reason to worry about a shortage of toilet paper for home use in the United States.
Cheers: To a little bit of normalcy. A recent Columbian article by Katie Gillespie and Anthony Macuk detailed what some local retailers are doing to offer fun activities for children during a time of social distancing.
Experts say that can be essential for kids who have had routines upended. Katie Azarow, a social worker at the Children’s Center, said: “One of the things we have all of our therapists focusing on right now is trying to instill some sense of normalcy in people’s lives.” Cheers to local businesses contributing to that goal.
Cheers: To wayward cows. There’s an old saying that two is a coincidence and three is a trend, so we’ll chalk this up to coincidence — for now.
Police in Florida recently captured a cow that had eluded them for two months. Repeated efforts to corral the animal had failed, with police saying it is “faster than it looks” and a “talented fence jumper.” That was followed by a cow in Virginia jumping out of a livestock trailer and stopping traffic on a freeway. It has not been determined whether either animal was charged with a mooooving violation.
