Red skies will not defeat our spirit

Red skies at night, sailors delight.  Red skies in morning, sailors take warning.

It is true, the colors we awoke to this morning in the Bay Area had a quality of foreboding to them as the dumpster fire that is 2020 continues to bring one new challenge after another.  But, to me, focusing on the eeriness is to miss the point: every test our area has faced this year we’ve met, risen to and, ultimately overcome.  So when I saw the atmosphere today, I shook my head and thought: “Why not?  Bring it on!”

That’s San Francisco’s modus operandi: hope in darkness.

And it’s Saint Francis Memorial’s ethos, as well.  Every test this hospital has had put to it, it bravely faces and passes.  Most recently, as the city’s designated COVID-19 response hospital, we’ve fought and each day we are winning.  And, as Northern California’s premier burn treatment center, we are providing extraordinary care to victims of the recent, devastating fires.  This is what we do, as the city’s crisis hospital.

The role of the Saint Francis Foundation is to ensure this hospital is always ready to lean-in to whatever trial is put to it.  The Foundation is a lighthouse during dark times and has the back of every heroic first responder.  We also remain in awe of the selfless doctors and nurses who continue to provide extraordinary care to our patients.

This year has, to everyone, felt unrelenting and, at times, merciless.  If 2020 has been strong enough to bring you down at some point, maybe today, we’ve got you.  Let Saint Francis Foundation help you find the strength to get back up.  It’s what we do. 

Our job, with your support, is to stay strong for you, for this great city, and prepare for whatever else 2020 has still in store for us while saving lives today.

While there was no sunrise this morning, perhaps we will have an equally colorful sunset as a promise of a better tomorrow.  History has shown us: this too shall pass.

 

Mark Ryle
President