KINDNESS IS CONTAGIOUS: How a community rallied around 2 Meridian hospitals

Published 4:45 pm Monday, March 30, 2020

Editor’s note: The Meridian Star is looking for acts of kindness or compassion in our community to ease the stress caused by the coronavirus. If you see something, let us know by emailing editor@themeridianstar.com.

When Jennifer LaBoe heard about the community of Mobile, Alabama rallying around its medical professionals over the weekend, she had an idea.

She quickly contacted Anderson Regional Medical Center and Rush Health Systems in Meridian and set up an event page online, encouraging the community to show its appreciation to those on the front line of the COVID-19 crisis.

“Everybody’s being exposed and going through this time of stress and we just wanted them to know that they’re not alone,”  LaBoe said. “We love and support them … We may be Christians, but we still have a fear of this virus or of it touching somebody that we know. They may be afraid, but they still have to go to work.”

Soon, friends from different churches, an ambulance service, firefighters and police got involved, and Sunday evening, the parking lots of both hospitals were filled with families, offering prayers and signs of support.

LaBoe, a former teacher who lives in Dalewood, has a deep appreciation for healthcare workers – Anderson’s emergency staff saved her life 11 years ago and her mother worked as a nurse, she said.

She brought her husband, daughter and four grandchildren to pray over the hospital staff.

“Every little prayer does something,” said Rush chaplain The Rev. Vicki Gladding, who stood in her car in the hospital’s parking lot, waving as well-wishers entered, the lights on their vehicles blinking brightly.

“We can all do our part – we can pray,” Gladding emphasized. “If we can’t be on the front lines, or we can’t sew, we all have a part. We can pray.”

The community of Quitman will gather in prayer at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 1 at H. C. Watkins Memorial Hospital. Residents are encouraged to park in the hospital parking lot, stay in their vehicles, turn on their flashers and pray.