Front-line workers across Cork and Kerry have joined together in a video plea to people in both counties to ‘Hold Firm’ in their efforts to contain Covid-19.
The video, which is an inter-agency project between An Garda Siochána, the HSE, Cork City Council, Cork County Council and Kerry Council features front-line workers asking people in Cork and Kerry to continue to play their part in stopping Covid-19 by sticking with the guidelines and restrictions.
As the bank holiday weekend approaches, the video will also be shared on the social media platforms of all the agencies involved.
Supporting the Hold Firm message, City Hall and County Hall in Cork and the Kerry County Council buildings in Tralee will tomorrow night (Friday, May 29th) light up in rainbow colours. The video closes with stunning footage of Cork’s County Hall lit up at night.
The rainbow is the symbol of the ‘Hold Firm’ campaign across the country, which was inspired by a poem a poem called Take Care.
The poem was written by President Michael D Higgins which closes with the lines:
Hold firm
Take care
Come home together
The video includes:
- Una Rea, Staff Nurse at the CUH
- Eileen Coleman, Fleet Manager, Cork County Council
- Marcela Whelan Kelly, Events Co-ordinator, Cork City Council
- Owen Dunlea, General Operative, CUH
- Marian Jones, Dental Nurse, Cork Kerry Community Healthcare
- Micheál O’Flaherty, Executive Librarian, Cork County Council
- Lisa Boland, An Garda Siochána
- Tom Brosnan, Civil Defence Officer, Kerry County Council
The front line workers detail what they’re missing and looking forward to, including seeing their children again; family dinners and meeting up with friends.
Nurse Una Rea points out that working together, the people of Cork and Kerry have “flattened that curve” adding that every point on the graph is “a life saved, someone still with us because we held firm”.
However, as Eileen Coleman, a fleet director with Cork County Council points out: “This isn’t over, and we’re not done yet”.
Marian Jones, a dental nurse in Kerry says that she’s asking the people of Kerry and Cork to Hold Firm with her, while Tom Brosnan of Kerry County Council reminds people that: “What we need to do is hold firm and take this one step at a time”.
