Because salons and barbershops have been off limits, Excelsior Firefighter Thom Brown received his first trim in 8 weeks from administrative assistant Ana Faturri.
Photo by James Douglas
Gratitude for frontline workers has become the central paean of the pandemic age. These are the people who show up to work in masks and gloves, wipe down check-out counters, deliver or hand out food, swab suspected COVID-19 carriers at drive-through testing sites, and take on other tasks that put them at risk of contraction.
Photographers like the Twin Cities’ own Katie Howie have responded by documenting mail carriers, nurses, hospitality workers, and others—as you can see in her “By a Thread: Pandemic Portraits” series, featured in the July/August issue of Minnesota Monthly. Expanding on that idea, here are some other portraits of Minnesotans carrying on so that we can, too.
Maple Grove Hy-Vee: Stephen West, food service director; DJ Vega, assistant director
Slade Kemmet Media
WCCO-TV: Normally the sports director, Mike Max hit the streets to cover protests around the Twin Cities.Lunds & Byerlys St. Louis Park: Mae Conlon, cashier
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D’Amico Catering employee Steve Gow cooked meals for individuals in need at D’Amico Catering’s kitchen at Edinburgh USA golf course in Brooklyn Park—they produced 1,000 meals weekly for YMCA locations.
Photo by Will Greiner
Greater Minneapolis Community Connections partnered with Darul Hadiith and the MN Somali Covid-19 Task Force to fill critical food and healthcare gaps in East African communities.
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M Health Fairview: Alex Leal, a health unit coordinator at Bethesda Hospital
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James Burroughs, Children’s chief equity and inclusion officer, recently gave a presentation called “The Impact of Social Injustice on Community Health: The Death of George Floyd and Racial Trauma.” He also spoke on KMOJ 89.9 FM about how COVID-19 is magnifying health inequities.
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Hennepin Healthcare: Jamie Hartung, CRNA, prepared anesthetic plans before a COVID-19 positive trauma patient arrived.
Photo by Alvin Sangma Photography
Hennepin EMS: John Sylvester, paramedic
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M Health Fairview’s “Caregiver Smiles” project encourages medical professionals to carry around pictures of themselves smiling.
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CentraCare Health: Woon Ho Paek, RN, at St. Cloud Hospital’s ICU
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CentraCare Health: Melanie West, nursing assistant at St. Cloud Hospital’s ICU
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Hennepin Healthcare: Medical Technologist Khadel King with samples to be tested for COVID-19 in Hennepin Healthcare’s microbiology lab.
