FROM THE EDITOR: Why we need to keep celebrating our true heroes and hearing their needs

Here they are again, more ordinary Sheffielders who are doing something quite extraordinary – risking their lives to save ours.
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This city is made up of people who have always made sacrifices, balancing family and career while trying to care for people who are ill.

Many of them aren’t paid enough and, until recently, didn’t get the recognition they deserve.

We clap for them weekly but should we be doing more?

Why we need to keep celebrating our true heroes and hearing their needs. (Photo by TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)Why we need to keep celebrating our true heroes and hearing their needs. (Photo by TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)
Why we need to keep celebrating our true heroes and hearing their needs. (Photo by TOLGA AKMEN/AFP via Getty Images)
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Sheffield was ahead of the game and our hospitals started mass testing staff days before most places in the country.

You can see from these photos – sent in to The Star by family and friends – that they do have protective equipment but is it enough and is it the right kind?

We are all struggling to find answers and the right way forward but clapping isn’t enough.

We must put pressure on to protect our NHS staff – today and when this is over – and must ask difficult questions on their behalf.

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We have been contacted by people raising serious questions about the personal protective equipment – or the lack of it – in essential places like GP surgeries and care homes.

Many of them are afraid to speak out, don’t want to look like troublemakers when they are only trying to keep themselves safe and are not getting any answers from the top.

We know everyone is busy but we desperately need our essential workers to be cared for, like they care for us in our hours of need.

This is also about acknowledging those who are right at the bottom of the salary scales but without whom, our hospitals and the like would not be able to function.

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Those who work behind-the-scenes, who pick up what others drop, who make sure everything is ready when teams arrive at work and are last to turn off the lights.

They keep our public buildings clean, they order what is needed and they make sure everything is just so … yet often go unnoticed.

There are so many jobs and tasks which we don’t appreciate until they aren’t done.

Whatever essential role your loved ones are in and wherever they work, do email a photo of them to [email protected] so we can keep on celebrating their smiling faces.

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