Carolyn Kaster/AP Photos
- Kamala Harris called a nurse on Thanksgiving to thank her for work fighting on the COVID-19 frontline.
- Harris spoke to Talisa Hardin, a registered nurse at the University of Chicago Medical Center and posted a video of the call.
- She told her: “I know it’s personal for you and I know that it requires mental and emotional and physical and spiritual energy and power that you give to it, so thank you.”
- Incoming second husband, Doug Emhoff, also called registered nurse, Juan Anchondo who works in El Paso, Texas, where morgues are being overwhelmed from COVID-19 deaths.
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Kamala Harris called a nurse on Thanksgiving to thank her for work fighting on the COVID-19 frontline.
Harris spoke to Talisa Hardin, a registered nurse at the University of Chicago Medical Center and posted a video of the call on Instagram.
The Vice President-elect captioned the 18-second clip of the call: “Earlier today Douglas Emhoff and I called Talisa, a registered nurse in Chicago, and a few of our nation’s frontline workers to thank them for everything they have done in the fight against COVID-19.
“We won’t be able to get through this without them.”
She says: "You know, I just - I wanted to see you to say Happy Thanksgiving! And just for everything you do every day. I've been reading about you and just all you do in service of so many people."
Bonnie Castillo, Executive Director of National Nurses United (NNU), also posted Hardin's side of the call to Facebook.
Castillo adds that Harris let Hardin know "that she and Joe Biden are looking forward to fully invoking the Defense Production Act to finally produce the PPE nurses on the front lines of COVID-19 so desperately need to protect ourselves and our patients.
"This holiday season, I am so deeply grateful for the powerful advocacy of nurses like Talisa. Our solidarity will see us through this crisis."
Harris also tells Hardin: "I know it's personal for you and I know that it requires mental and emotional and physical and spiritual energy and power that you give to it, so thank you."
Both Hardin's mother and uncle have COVID-19, with her uncle still in hospital, the National Nurses United (NNU) told CNN.
In May, she testified to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform on behalf of the NNU and the University of Chicago Medical Center about the lack of protection for medical workers.
Incoming second husband, Doug Emhoff, also called registered nurse Juan Anchondo who works in El Paso, Texas, where morgues are overwhelmed with people who have died from COVID-19.
In the clip shared on the NNU Facebook, he said: "Every story I hear like these, I just take it back to Joe and Kamala, and it really informs what the policies are going to be, and I'm certainly going to share this with them as well. But hang in there, man, help's on the way.
"And thank you so much for what you're doing, and we so appreciate it, and I hope you know that. Just keep fighting, and stay as safe as you can, and enjoy your Thanksgiving."
The news comes as the United States hit the highest daily death rate from COVID-19 since May on the day before Thanksgiving.