A gift from a legendary Husky and a video thank you

This past week, we received hundreds of thank-you’s and supportive messages from the community. More than 50 restaurants, companies and generous individuals have donated snacks and meals to our staff. And we were reminded once again of the incredible resilience and kindness of our community — and that we will get through this, together.

A bit of hope

Data collected by our colleagues at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation offers a ray of hope for our community: That the pandemic has plateaued in Washington State as we continue to flatten the curve. While we can’t let our guard down yet and continue to care for many patients with COVID-19, this information makes us cautiously optimistic that this pandemic may begin to subside in our community over the next several weeks. Explore the IHME data.

A legendary Husky’s gift

NBA All-Star and basketball legend Isaiah Thomas has a strong connection to the Seattle area: He grew up in Tacoma and went to UW, where he played basketball for the Huskies. He recently reconnected with his roots and made an impact on our community by donating pizza dinners to the doctors, nurses and cleaning staff at UW Medicine. He will send pizza again next week, for a total of more than 1,000 meals. Watch the video of support he made for us.

Quilting for a cause

Our own Dr. Eileen Bulger, chief of trauma at Harborview Medical Center, has already been utilizing her skills as a trauma care provider and leader to help us get through this pandemic. Now, she’s using another skill to benefit the cause: quilting. Dr. Bulger is sewing fabric face masks for family and friends.

Kind words of the week

“Roses are red, Violets are blue, You’re working so hard, I’ll stay home for you.” – The child of a Husky Alum

Additionally, we received this letter mailed to us — with no return address — that we wanted to share:

A more personal thanks  

Everyone at UW Medicine plays such a vital role in our mission to improve the health of the public.  We are so grateful for all you do for our patients and our community.  We wanted to express our thanks in a more personal way in this video.