Day 8: Positive Thoughts, Ohio Edition

I was born in Columbus. I grew up here, I went away to college and lived in Chicago for about a decade, and I moved back and live in Columbus now. In all of that time, I've feebly defended my home state against naysayers. I've corrected people who thought I said, "Iowa" or didn't know the difference. I've made an angry face whenever I heard someone use the phrase "flyover country" to describe where most of the people in America live, in a way that implies they aren't as important as people in California and New York flying past between the coasts.

I've also invested a lot of time and energy in my local community, serving as an elected officer on the Northland Community Council, the Northland Area Business Association, the Strawberry Farms Civic Association, and helping to start a dynamic new project called Elevate Northland. People ask why, and I tell them the most important impact I can have on my kids is to impact the community they grow up in. Also, my family believes in legacy ... in doing things that outlive each of us.

But I have never, in all of my 43 years, had the thought that I am damn proud to be from Ohio.

Until this week.

It was building up for a couple of weeks, mind you. Ohio was out in front of other states in making strong, unpopular orders and recommendations to slow the spread of coronavirus in order to keep our hospitals from exceeding capacity. We were the first to close schools statewide. We closed down big events, bars and restaurants, then salons and gyms, well before our infection rate was high. Some people made fun of us.

But here's what we did this week, detailed in an article by Holly Zacharia at the Columbus Dispatch. (https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200328/coronavirus-in-ohio-dewine-pleads-with-fda-to-approve-battelle-invention-for-masks)

1) Gov. DeWine ordered all of the competing hospital groups to collaborate on regional plans to dramatically expand capacity. Our two major competing hospital groups in Columbus had a plan on his desk, as ordered, in just a few days. The plan is for them to cooperate in converting the Convention Center into additional patient care space to prevent overcrowding in the hospitals. That's real leadership, in my opinion.

Where can we look in our lives and ask other people to come up with a plan, by a deadline, without sticking our own fingers in it? I asked my daughter to come up with a daily schedule for herself so she can stay on track with homework and exercise and still relax, and she did it. I'll bet all of us can find more places to give people freedom to be creative while being firm about getting results.

2) Battelle, our private/public research lab in Columbus, invented a machine that can sanitize face masks for reuse by medical workers. DeWine pressed the FDA to fast track its use, and yesterday they approved it for use across the country. Who would have thought the FDA would approve something in a week?

3) Our Abbott Labs, which I usually associate with baby formula and protein shakes, developed a five-minute coronavirus test, which was also approved by the FDA. Also invented in Columbus. When people put their mind to things, and feel motivated by a global cause, they can do amazing, amazing work. What must have happened with the corporate leadership at Abbott so their researchers had the freedom to pivot sharply, drop other profitable projects, and work, unfettered, on this new test?

I'm sure there are more amazing Ohio feats, but those were the highlights from the weekend that made me really damn proud of our state. My friend Megan Owdom-Weitz at Megan Lee Designs captured it in her new T-shirt design, featuring Dr. Amy Acton, who has been leading public health policy for the governor. (https://www.meganleedesigns.com/products/so-proud-womens-tee)

[A quick aside: If you are either feeling addicted to the news or exhausted by the news, consider getting your news from PRINT newspaper websites, like the Columbus Dispatch, the New York Times or Wall Street Journal, etc. Most of them are giving away their coronavirus coverage for free to non-subscribers. With print media, you get good information, you can choose which headlines to read, and there's no shouting. And you don't have to wait for the press conference to start.]

Maybe those of us who live here in Ohio don't really appreciate how well we are doing. But it's pretty amazing. A few people who do understand and have a good sense of humor have created and circulated this funny map that shows what the country will look like when this is over, because only the Ohioans will have survived. Macabre, for sure, but funny if you're lucky enough to live here. (Map: https://www.dispatch.com/news/20200319/ohio-takes-over-entire-country-in-viral-map)

Keep it up, friends. It's in times like these that we are reminded of our true potential and capacity as humans.