Published: April 27, 2020
Respiratory care practitioner Brittany Ballard and her longtime friend Hannah Fisher, R.N., are capturing the spirit of collaboration in the fight against COVID-19. They’ve created blue heart stickers for health care workers to add to their badges as a sign of their fellowship.
Blue was chosen to represent trust, peace, confidence and, of course, scrubs.
“It’s just a small blue heart to place on your badge to show no matter what we’re going through, we’re all in this together,” said Brittany, who works at Norton Hospital.
Hannah, a nurse at UofL Health, had been making jewelry to raise money for a medical procedure, but chose to put that project on hold and devote her crafting supplies to producing blue hearts with Brittany.
Each heart is packaged with a note of encouragement telling the recipient, “Wear this blue heart on your badge as a friendly reminder that no matter how crazy these next several weeks may be, we are and always will be a family.”
Initially, Brittany and Hannah shared blue hearts with co-workers. As more and more began to ask for hearts of their own, the small symbols of unity began to embody something much larger. Within a week, the pair had made over 6,000 hearts for health care workers at local hospitals.
As demand continued to rise, the two created a Facebook group that brings together health care workers to support one another, share information and spread positivity. Before long, Brittany and Hannah were receiving requests to send blue hearts all over the country.
They have set up an online form to collect requests and welcome contributions through a GoFundMe page to help defray their costs.
The Facebook group has grown to over 21,000 members. Deliveries have been made to New York, California and just about everywhere in between. To help keep up with requests, Brittany and Hannah have encouraged others to create and distribute their own blue heart stickers.
Pride has always played a part in this movement. In the beginning, it was pride and unity among health care workers. Now there’s pride for the patients that they helped to get off ventilators, pride for the way they’ve held everything together and pride for the inspiration their bravery has provided to others.
“I’m just proud of the team I work with. I can’t imagine being at any other facility,” Brittany said.
This team spirit illustrates what the blue hearts are all about. We’re all in this together and are a team supporting and celebrating one another.
Select an appointment date and time from available spots listed below.