South Bay Teen Creates Website To Send Thank You Letters To Nurses Nationwide
SANTA CLARA (KPIX) - A South Bay teen has created a website to honor and thanks the nurses and other health care staffers working tirelessly to save lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Genine Borrelli is an intensive care COVID-19 nurse at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. She is one of 3.1 million nurses in the United States taking care of people every day during the coronavirus emergency.
"Kinda hard being a nurse. You're not always getting, you know, praises for what you do. So it's kind of a new day and age, I think," said Borrelli.
Gina Choi, a junior at Santa Clara High School, was so inspired by the sacrifices being made by nurses working on the front line that she created "Notes for Support," an amazing website that offers people a way to thank nurses like Borrelli for their work.
"I have a program set up so that anyone can submit a letter of encouragement to COVID-19 patients or health care workers," said Choi.
Choi constructed a web page that takes letters, prepares them in the correct format and ensures they go to nurses nationwide. Thousands of kind notes are being sent across the country to nurses and patients alike.
Nurses notice and they are touched. Some like Yasman, who works at a hospital in Philadelphia, reach out to voice their appreciation.
"Hi Gina! This is Yasman from Jefferson Hospital, I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you so much for the generous notes, for our patients and for our health care workers," she wrote.
"So heartfelt and sweet! I especially love some of the pictures. Here we have nurses, we have our operating room and just very nice sweet messages of thanks," said Jennifer Jacobson, a charge nurse at Sutter Health Pacific Medical Center.
Some folks are sending more than just notes. The Burlingame Sutter Hospital received 60 handmade quilts that were given out to nurses in a raffle this week.
"It's very challenging but, I'm very proud to be a nurse" said Borrelli.
People interested in writing a letter of support to a patient or care worker can go to www.notesforsupport.org.
