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San Jose health care workers treated like superstars, met with cheers
A group of front-line health care workers at San Jose Valley Medical Center were treated like stars by sports fans who shifted their focus on Friday. KTVU's Ann Rubin reports, normally the San Jose Ultras have their attention on soccer's beloved earthquakes.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - Cheering: It's what this group of superfans is known for.
Normally, the San Jose Ultras turn their attention to soccer
and their beloved Earthquakes.
But today, they've taken their voices and their support to Valley Medical Center.
"We support our players, but right now our players are not playing so we support these guys. These guys are superstars right now. And they should be treated as such in the future," says Dan Margarit with the San Jose Ultras.
The Ultras started with a fundraiser, collecting $4000 in a matter of hours. When the Earthquakes found out, they decided to match it.
"They do a great job supporting us. So I think us giving back to healthcare workers, the doctors and nurses, everybody is just, they're doing a great job and I just think it shows how loyal they are to San Jose," says JC Macrinkowski with the San Jose Earthquakes.
That money was then used to bring in three food trucks to feed frontline workers during the hospital's largest shift change.
And then there were the Ultras, doing what they do best: cheering.
"For an afternoon, all the folks that work inside the hospital and are doing such incredibly difficult work, are going to get to experience the feelings of being athletes... walking out onto a field and being cheered by adoring fans. It's really not an experience I think you get, as a healthcare worker, very often," says Michael Elliott, with the Valley Medical Center Foundation.
For this nurse, it was a bright spot during some otherwise difficult days.
"I feel so blessed with all these things. I'm really impressed with all this. It makes me a little emotional too because they cared for us, our hospital. They really cared for us all," says nurse Jagdeep Nahal.