Parade honoring health workers to be held

CLOVIS — A community celebration of local healthcare workers is set to take place Thursday evening outside of Plains Regional Medical Center.

Hearts for Healthcare Workers is being organized by the Clovis/Curry County Chamber of Commerce, the City of Clovis, Curry County, and Rooney Moon Broadcasting to show support for healthcare workers and staff who have provided care for the community throughout the pandemic.

A driving parade will begin to form at 5:30 p.m. on West 21st Street. Programming related to the event, and the 6:30 p.m. ceremony following the parade, will be broadcast on 101.5 FM and posted on the chamber’s Facebook page.

The ceremony is slated to include remarks from Clovis Mayor Mike Morris, Curry County Commission Chair Robert Thornton, PRMC Hospital Administrator Jorge Cruz and Chamber President Laura Leal. A group of businesses in the chamber have provided gift cards for all 625 employees at PRMC.

“Our hearts are full just being grateful for our healthcare workers,” Leal said in a chamber release. “Because of their courage and perseverance, we’re able to be confident that we’ll always have someone to take care of us, and we’re just happy to be able to honor them in this way.”

In addition to the gift cards, the chamber is encouraging the community to get involved by making paper hearts to drop off during the parade or by displaying signs on their vehicles as they drive through. Homemade cards or gifts, individually wrapped snacks, gift cards, and monetary donations were also suggested and can be dropped off at the parade site for PRMC staff to pick up.

According to the parade route provided by the chamber, vehicles will join the parade by heading west on 21st Street, then travel on Dillon Street and through the hospital’s west side roundabout before heading south along Martin Luther King Boulevard to the roundabout at the main hospital entrance. Drivers will exit the parade by heading north (left) onto MLK.