NATICK, Mass. — Thousands of jewelers and metalsmiths around the world are uniting to honor health care workers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
They are volunteering their time and material to recognize all the hard work and sacrifices health care workers have made and they hope the small gesture will make a big impact.
For Marie Mitchell, it’s been a labor of love.
“You think about the people who are going to get it, so you want it to be as nice as it can be. You want to do more. You want to make as many as you can,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell is making dozens of small, hand-shaped medals inside her basement studio in Natick.
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They are thank-you gifts for frontline health care workers, who have worked courageously and tirelessly through the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s part of a worldwide movement called the Hand Medal Project.
“For us to take a piece of metal and cut a hand out of it and give it to somebody as a symbol of their hard work was really a nice gesture. It feels good to be part of all this,” Mitchell said.
Many of the medals which Mitchell made are honoring phlebotomists, those who draw blood, at Morton Hospital in Taunton.
Krisy DaSilva delivered them to her former co-workers and she says it was her way to thank them for their service and sacrifice.
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“Sometimes the little people in the hospital don’t feel appreciated and I wanted them to feel appreciated. I appreciate them. Everyone else appreciates them and I wanted them to feel appreciated and she loved it,” DaSilva said.
Each tiny medal is made out of metal, which symbolizes strength.
“There’s probably more. There’s lot of workers, but these people were on the front line. Imagine sitting with someone who has no family and they’re taking their last breath and you’re holding their hand, so that takes a special kind of person to do that,” Mitchell said.
More than 3,000 artists, jewelers, and metalsmiths from 66 countries around the world are participating in the Hand Medal Project.
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