Preston North End midfielder Alan Browne has paid tribute to health professionals during the battle with the Coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking to PNE.Com, the Irish international says that his experience with staff when his son Hugo was born recently gave him a huge appreciation of the work they do and that the public should do everything they can to help them by following the government’s guidelines.
“It is every credit to those workers,” he told the club’s official website.
“I remember when Hugo was born, one of the nurses who was working at the time said she wasn’t really being paid and that she was going to college and had a second job as well. At the time I felt that it was near enough impossible to do.
“We tried to offer her some money and she wouldn’t take it. She was a really nice girl and we just wanted to give her a token of our appreciation for what she did, but she wouldn’t take it and we just found the people in there incredible people and to keep going for the love of their job is fantastic and now this crisis has come up, it has put the weight of the world on their shoulders.
“They are up the walls doing everything they can and it is only fair that the rest of us pitch in and do as they tell us to do – stay at home as much as we can, look after ourselves and go off the guidelines.
“They are the people we are relying on at the moment and doing all the hard work and it is really unfair if the rest of us are out meeting up with people or going shopping every day, because that only spreads the risk of the virus and puts more pressure on them.
“It is more important now than ever to give them the credit they deserve. I have seen a lot on social media of people applauding their efforts and that can go a long way as well.”
The PNE No.8 described them as ‘heroes’: “Real heroes don’t wear capes and that is truer now more than ever. The whole world is relying on these people.
“A lot of people are losing jobs at the moment and that is another thing that is really upsetting to see and it is about health more than anything now.
“When it ends or when it gets back to as normal as it can be, those things can then be assessed, but at the moment it is all about looking after our health and they are the ones, primarily, who are going to help us through it, who are doing the best job and every credit to them,” he added.
We will hear more from Alan next week, when he discusses how he and the squad are dealing with the uncertainty of the situation and how he is finding plenty to do with his family.