'Thousands Of Unsung Heroes' | RI Leaders Thank Public Employees

PROVIDENCE, RI — As the end of 2020 approaches, Gov. Gina Raimondo and other state leaders took a moment to stop and acknowledge the hard work of public sector employees over the past nine months of the coronavirus pandemic.

"We did it, Rhode Island, we made it to the end of the year," Raimondo said. "We have found the light in the darkness ... Millions of times in the past year, Rhode Islanders have come together."

Tuesday was Raimondo's last weekly news conference of the calendar year, since she will not hold one the week between Christmas and New Year's. Both the governor and Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, the director of the Rhode Island Department of Health, wished Rhode Islanders a healthy, safe holiday season and a healthy start to the new year.

"As your governor, I want to say thank you to every public employee," Raimondo said. "There are thousands of unsung heroes."

The governor and Alexander-Scott called out several public employees by name, as well as the departments filled with public servants at the state and local level who have worked around the clock since February to held steer the state through the pandemic. These include janitors; the state's IT department who built new technology infrastructure; the Department of Environmental Management; state health employees — "Rhode Island's first front-line workers of the pandemic;" the Department of Labor and Training; the National Guard; the Department of Children, Youth and Families and thousands of volunteers.

"I could go on and on," Raimondo said. "This has been a brutal time for everybody, but those who have been lucky enough to keep their jobs have had a hard time as well."