[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 139 (Wednesday, August 5, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4898-S4899]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            COVID-19 HEROES

  Mrs. HYDE-SMITH. Mr. President, rural hospitals like King's Daughters 
Medical Center in my hometown of Brookhaven have always been the 
backbone of healthcare in Mississippi. The work of the staff at these 
rural hospitals during the pandemic has been remarkable.
  Dedicated nurses like my friends Larue Lambert, Tammy Livingston, 
Misty Britt, Christina Miller, and their coworkers--which are so many--
toil every day under heavy stress and heart-wrenching situations to 
care for patients and their families. They are lifesavers, and they are 
best friends to total strangers. They take on extra shifts and duties 
while doing what they can to keep morale up. They are healthcare heroes 
who are enduring extreme conditions.
  Doctors like Dr. Jeff Ross are working through both physical and 
mental exhaustion. Yet they continue to do their job, selflessly 
managing the care of their fellow Mississippians.
  In the heavily affected Jackson metropolitan area, the University of 
Mississippi Medical Center has brought its unique capabilities to bear. 
In the early days of the pandemic, its research labs rushed to create 
its own in-house COVID test. And the UMC National Telehealth Center of 
Excellence quickly ramped up technology to triage patients for testing 
and provide socially distanced care.
  I greatly admire UMC's work with the Federal Government on best 
telehealth practices during a pandemic. As potential treatments have 
emerged, UMC researchers and healthcare providers have stood up eight 
cutting-edge COVID clinical trials in their new clinical trials unit.
  Our healthcare providers aren't the only ones who have been working 
to protect the health of Mississippians. Industries across the State 
have quickly pivoted to provide needed supplies to fight COVID-19. For 
example, distilleries like Wonderbird Spirits in Taylor, Cathead 
Distillery in Jackson, and Lazy Magnolia Brewery in Kiln made the quick 
decision to begin producing hand sanitizer early in the pandemic. 
Furniture companies, like Confortaire in Tupelo, stepped up to produce 
needed PPE for the North Mississippi Medical Center and our local 
schools. And Mississippi Prison Industries, a nonprofit that gives 
incarcerated individuals the opportunity to be employed and gain work 
experience, is producing up to 15,000 masks and 7,000 isolation gowns 
per day.
  Since the start of this pandemic, I recognized that we are dealing 
with two emergencies. There is the healthcare emergency and the 
economic emergency. I am proud of the many ways in which Mississippians 
are helping each other weather these difficult economic times.
  Mississippi bankers worked around the clock, 7 days a week, to help 
small businesses access the Paycheck Protection Program loans. Our 
friend Brad Jones at the Bank of Franklin in Meadville, MS, was so 
helpful in keeping me abreast of the needs of our local business 
owners. Because of their efforts, Mississippi ranked No. 1 in the 
entire Nation in PPP loans, with nearly 50,000 loans processed. This 
tireless work is helping small businesses stay open with their 
employees at work.
  Ensuring Mississippians have access to food has been a challenge. A 
Mississippian who has been a godsend to

[[Page S4899]]

many families is Andy Mercier, who leads Merchants Foodservice in 
Hattiesburg. In partnership with the Mississippi Food Network, his 800 
employees have remained on the payroll and worked to provide more than 
100,000 gallons of milk and nearly half a million food produce boxes to 
those in need.
  These USDA Farmers to Families boxes filled with food products from 
Mississippi farmers and producers have sustained families and helped 
our hard-hit agricultural industry.
  In addition to efforts in the private sector, our churches and 
nonprofits across our State are also working tirelessly for 
Mississippians. St. James United Methodist Church in Columbus 
coordinated with a Delta catfish producer to distribute five tons of 
Mississippi farm-raised catfish to those in need in the Golden Triangle 
region.
  Finally, I could not stand up here today and fail to mention our 
Mississippi teachers, especially as so many schools across our State 
are beginning the new academic year this month.
  Last spring, our teachers accepted the challenge and quickly 
transitioned their classrooms to a new kind of learning through 
technology and other socially distanced means. While those challenges 
continue as schools navigate how best to serve students this fall, each 
and every one of our teachers will be in my prayers over the next few 
weeks.
  In every facet of our society, we have heroes standing up to help 
their neighbors during unprecedented challenges. To all of the 
healthcare workers and first responders on the frontlines against this 
virus, to all the researchers racing to test treatments and develop 
protocols, to all of the people making hand sanitizers and PPE to help 
prevent the spread of this virus, to all the bankers and small 
businesses working to keep people on the payroll, to all of our 
farmers, ranchers, food distributors, and grocery store workers keeping 
food on the store shelves and on our tables, to all of our churches and 
nonprofit organizations serving our communities, and to our teachers 
who are facing challenges they could have never imagined, from the 
bottom of my heart, I say thank you. Your heroic labors are noticed, 
and they are greatly appreciated.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.

                          ____________________