The Covid Day of Reflection is on Sunday 9 March.
It’s been 5 years since the Covid pandemic began. On Sunday 9 March 2025, Devon Air Ambulance will join communities across the UK in a national Covid-19 Day of Reflection.
The 9 March is an opportunity to come together to remember those who lost their lives since the pandemic began and to honour the tireless work and acts of kindness shown during this unprecedented time.
Hannah Gompertz is one of our Patient & Family Support Clinicians and she, alongside her grandfather, co-founded the Yellow Hearts to Remember campaign.
Representatives of the UK Government Department of Culture, Media and Sport recently came down to Plymouth to film Hannah talking about the Yellow Hearts to Remember group.
Hannah, who sadly lost her grandmother, Sheila, to Covid 19 on Easter Sunday 2020, shared:
My grandfather, David, called me and shared that he felt that the government daily briefing was informing the public of how many people had died, but there was a lack of appreciation of the people behind those statistics, and how the country was absolutely full of grieving families.
‘He said that in the Vietnam War people would tie yellow ribbons around their door handles if they were missing someone or waiting for someone to come home, and suggested we do something similar. At the time, people couldn’t get ribbons as we were in the middle of a lockdown, so I drew a yellow heart instead and placed this in my window with my grandmother’s picture and shared the gesture on Facebook.
‘The yellow heart vent viral and organically became a symbol of remembrance for those who died during the pandemic and a symbol of support for those who were bereaved.’
On Sunday 9 March, the Devon Air Ambulance crew will be wearing Yellow Heart badges on their flight suits and the yellow heart sticker on their flight helmets in solidarity and remembrance.
Each member of our crew have their own memories of this incredibly challenging time and apart from a 6-week interlude while the aircraft was being enhanced with a protective screen, they continued to serve patients throughout the covid period.
Watch Hannah’s interview on Facebook.
