Times are tough right now. Many of us are stuck at home struggling to learn to work remotely and others are struggling to find ways to keep food on the table after being laid off.
Then there are the people considered “essential” workers. They are grocery store staff, delivery drivers, warehouse and shipping workers, and anyone else that keeps modern life possible.
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And of course, there are the health care workers who are risking their own health to protect the lives of their community.
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Those heroes are also making sacrifices outside of the hospital in order to protect their families from anything they might bring home.
For some, this means an extensive decontamination process upon returning home, undressing and washing in garages before even interacting with family.
For others, like Dr. Jared Burks, it means living away from home entirely and missing out on family milestones. One of those milestones was caught on camera and the powerful photo quickly went viral.
Dr. Burks is a Resident Physician at UAMS Northeast in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
His wife Alyssa told ABC7 that they decided it made more sense for him to quarantine separately from the family as the number of COVID-19 cases began to grow in their home state.
The photo itself is powerful, but becomes even more heartbreaking with context.
According to Alyssa, her husband had already been living away from home for two weeks when the pic was snapped. He had come for a visit to watch his son crawl for the first time, with the glass door between them for safety.
The pic is one of many incredible images and videos being shared of the sacrifices doctors, nurses, first responders, and even hospital janitorial and administrative staff are making each day.
But Dr. Burks’ story didn’t end with that one photo, as only a day after it went viral, Jonesboro, Arkansas had a whole other emergency to deal with.
The evening of March 28, a tornado blew through the town , injuring six people and causing an incredible amount of damage.
Trains were derailed, a plane at the local airport was overturned, and many businesses and houses were destroyed.
And one of those homes was that of Dr. Burks and his family.
Thankfully, the family is safe, but they are now faced with the added challenge of rebuilding their lives during a pandemic.
Thankfully, there is now a global community of people who were touched by Dr. Burks’ sacrifice and are now rallying to help him in return.
A close friend of the family launched a GoFundMe campaign hoping to raise $2,500 to help the family cover immediate needs while they figure out their next steps.
To say that they reached the modest goal quickly would be an understatement.
At the time of this writing it has been 13 hours since the campaign was launched and it has raised $26,380.
That is an amazing outpouring of support and will allow the Burks family to rest a little easier while Dr. Burks is working so hard to fight for the health of his community.
