LEWISBURG – President and CEO of Evangelical Community Hospital Kendra Aucker was asked to elaborate on the controversial 5:01 p.m. photo of State Representative David Rowe with a beverage on Thanksgiving Eve.
She was on WKOK’s On The Mark program this week and said Rep. Rowe has always been supportive of the hospital and she doesn’t have concerns that he won’t help them get through the pandemic, but she says the photo and its comments seemed irresponsible.
“I see this sort of feeling of liking to be the patriot, liking to be the vendor of civil liberties, and I can certainly get behind that. But, I feel as a representative, it is his job to make sure that those civil liberties of everyone are protected and executed responsibly.”
Aucker called the picture ‘demoralizing’ and says that while it technically wasn’t wrong from a legal perspective, the optics weren’t great, “It was just sort of that notion of touting, ‘I’m going to go out and have my drink and exercise my rights.” And, I’m personally going to follow the science. People congregate without masks and it just smacked of that to me.”
Aucker said she had just completed rounds with her staff on the day the photo was posted which made it feel more insensitive, “I was watching people have breakdowns on the job, and crying, and overwhelmed, and not seeing their children, and working extra shifts. It’s overwhelming and it’s exhausting. I mean, you wear an N-95 all day long, and a face shield, be on your feet for 12 hours, and be with people when they’re dying. It’s a very, very hard thing.”
You can hear the full interview from Aucker on the WKOK podcast page.
