Fire and EMS salute hospital staff at Abington Hospital-Jefferson Health

ABINGTON, Pa. - Heroes saluting heroes that's what happened at Abington Hospital-Jefferson Health Thursday evening. Police, Fire and EMS from departments all over the area surrounded the entrance to applaud and cheer on our health professionals. It happened during shift change as workers came in and others left for the day.

"With all the support that we have here it keeps us going. It keeps us motivated. We're just here to save lives," said Kelsey Paul. These are the people guiding us through this pandemic which has left us still with so much uncertainty and a lot of concern.

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"It's definitely more emotional than anything. I mean if we didn't have the support of this community I think our morale would probably be lower in the hospital," said Paul. She and Jennifer Newton are emergency room nurses who say they’re doing their best to hold each other up.

"Just trying to make jokes and just trying to keep the mood light while we're at work because it's such a tense environment," said Newton. “People clapping for us as we're walking by is just overwhelmingly emotional for us,” she added.

“Growing up all these people clapping for us were our heroes. So it's hard now to be on the other side of things to say that we're their heroes," said Paul.

Others were moved to tears.

"This is just amazing. I'm starting to cry because I even had a nurse come in tonight, I oversee all of critical care, who I know has been struggling a little bit. She said man they really know how to tug on your heart strings. I could see it filling her heart up," said Peachy Viviano, a critical care liaison. Viviano says you can't imagine what acts like this are doing for them.

"It’s life sustaining,” she said.

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