Coronavirus: Police officers show support for health care workers with sirens, cheers, doughnuts
Erin Rode
Health care workers at St. John's Regional Medical Center in Oxnard were greeted with about 20 police cars, flashing lights and sirens on Monday afternoon, as the Oxnard Police Department showed support for medical workers fighting the coronavirus.
Eric Sonstegard, an assistant police chief for the Oxnard Police Department, said the idea came from social media and from a community member, who shared the idea of residents making noise for health care workers at noon Monday by honking their horns.
With police cars complete with sirens and lights, members of the Oxnard Police Department figured they could do more than just honk their horns when they showed up at St. John's on Monday.
"We're kind of on the front lines and we're used to the community doing stuff like this for us, but our doctors and nurses aren't always the ones with the spotlight on them," said Sonstegard. "I think as a community and society we're getting a quick and stark reminder of how important they are to us, so we just wanted to let them know we appreciate how much they're doing."
Sonstegard added that many officers have family members who work in health care, and his own daughter is a registered nurse.
The Oxnard Police Department isn't the only law enforcement agency showing support for health care workers. Sheriff's deputies, firefighters and paramedics from Santa Barbara County showed their support with sirens and cheers at Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital on Monday evening, and the California Highway Patrol's West Valley Office is working with Dunkin' Donuts to bring doughnuts and coffee to medical workers.
"Because of COVID-19, a lot of the community events we usually participate in have been canceled and we were looking for other ways we could help out the community, and specifically the community on the front lines of all this and those are our health care workers," said CHP officer Jed Cato. "They're not getting any breaks and are doing their best to handle this, and we wanted to make sure they got some gratitude from us."
CHP officers have delivered coffee and doughnuts provided by Dunkin' Donuts to nine hospitals in the past two weeks. The Simi Valley Police Department and CHP's Moorpark office joined for a stop at Adventist Health Simi Valley. CHP Moorpark also visited Los Robles Health System in Thousand Oaks.
CHP also plans to expand deliveries to Costco employees and other grocery stores.
"That's another line of essential workers that are working tirelessly to keep communities together, and we're trying to give gratitude to grocery store employees who are keeping the shelves stocked," said Cato.
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Erin Rode covers housing, real estate and development for The Star. Reach her at erin.rode@vcstar.com or 805-437-0312.