Coming Together in Uncertain Times

“There’s no playbook for this,” said Dr. Bob Harrington, Stanford University cardiologist and president of the American Heart Association, during our recent interview about the COVID-19 pandemic from the frontlines, along with president-elect, Dr. Mitch Elkind, and former president, Dr. John Warner.

Here’s what stood out to these three leaders:

• COVID-19 is testing our health care system – it’s functionality, capacity, structure and ability to deliver equitable health for all.
• This pandemic is stress-testing our nation in ways that go beyond health care.
• How people are responding is “the best of humankind.”

In the face of unprecedented challenges, we’re witnessing heroes from every corner of America. Look at our doctors and health care teams who are working around the clock, while dangerously short on staff and personal protective equipment. Corporate America stepping up. Employees adapting to working from home while juggling kids and meetings, thankful for a paycheck.  Another 10 million filing jobless claims over the past two weeks and still helping their neighbors. The list goes on.

Yet, this crisis has exposed a difficult truth: Times of stress and anxiety can bring us together, but it can also tear us apart. For example, the pandemic has brought simmering biases to the surface for some, boiling over into acts of discrimination and violence against Asians. That is never acceptable.

Let’s remember who the real enemy is — an insidious virus that has claimed 46,200 lives worldwide and 4,669 in America and rising.

The American Heart Association exists to serve all communities, and that includes Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs) who are disproportionately impacted by hypertension, diabetes and other chronic conditions.

In every situation, the American Heart Association remains true to its mission and Guiding Values, ensuring equitable health for all people. We are in this together.

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resources