Getting through the turbulence — together

Here’s an encouraging shoutout from the mountaintop for all our local health care workers.

Much bigger tests are likely ahead, but the community’s army of health professionals appears poised to do whatever is necessary to protect the people of Kootenai County.

Three of those pros don’t practice medicine, yet they’ve been burning the midnight oil to keep residents as healthy and safe as possible. We’re talking about Kim Anderson and Andrea Nagle from Kootenai Health, and Katherine Hoyer of Panhandle Health District. These three are working overtime to provide invaluable information every day that we’re publishing on the front page of The Press, with one goal in mind: Getting through these damned tough times together as unscathed as possible.

Toward that end, this is as good a time as any to open the pages of this newspaper and its digital products to you. We’d love for you to share the following with Mike Patrick, mpatrick@cdapress.com, or through the Press app:

• Businesses and other organizations, suggestions for staying afloat in these challenging times. That includes ways in which you’re keeping staff morale up. If you’re sending some employees home to work, what problems have you met and how have you addressed them?

• Families and individuals, short stories and photos showing how you’re dealing with today’s challenges. Family game nights? Constructively working on charitable activities to be delivered later? Inspiring snippets of helping a neighbor in need?

• Esteemed life veterans (OK, that’s a fancy way of referring to our fellow senior citizens): You’ve been through crises before. How did you do it? What did you experience? What did you learn? We’d love to share your stories with thousands of readers across North Idaho, insights that provide hope and possibly even some practical suggestions.

The Press is reorganizing the newsroom to ensure more information is shared quickly but accurately on the newspaper’s website, its app and through its Facebook page. The website, which usually offers only a handful of articles free each month, is now entirely free to everybody and will remain so through the crisis.

We invite you to pitch in your stories, photos and tips so North Idaho comes through with as few bumps and bruises as possible. Email: mpatrick@cdapress.com