{"id":112613,"date":"2020-04-20T10:35:36","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T08:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=112613"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:24:54","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:24:54","slug":"shared-50-000-times-please-get-icu-doctor-gommers-a-ribbon-of-honour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2020\/04\/20\/shared-50-000-times-please-get-icu-doctor-gommers-a-ribbon-of-honour\/","title":{"rendered":"Shared 50.000 times: \u2018Please get ICU doctor Gommers a ribbon of honour\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Approximately 50.000 shares, 7.000 comments and 14.000 thumbs-up is what Jenny van den Berg (44) got when she created a Facebook post in which she requested that professor of intensive care medicine Diederik Gommers, who holds an endowed chair, be granted a ribbon of honour. \u201cOne of my colleagues told me I should become an influencer, but that certainly wasn\u2019t my intention.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Professor of intensive care medicine Diederik Gommers<\/span><\/p>

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So what was her intention? \u201cPlease get this man a ribbon of honour,\u201d is what she thought while watching TV with her two teenage sons (aged 16 and 19) and husband and seeing Gommers tell about the goings-on at his ICU. This was back in the day when people were very concerned that Dutch ICUs might not be able to handle the crisis. \u201cHe was so honest and sincere about his feelings, and he explained things so well. He blew me away. To me, he symbolises all ICU doctors and nurses.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not an influencer at all, but I found myself thinking: I need to post this to Facebook. So I mustered up the courage, wrote down my feelings and hit \u2018share\u2019.\u201d It turned out she had hit the right note. The message went viral on Facebook<\/a>. Another woman copied her words, and her message, too, was shared countless times. In all, the messages were shared some 50,000 times. \u201cKing\u2019s Day [when ribbons of honour are traditionally awarded \u2013 ed.] is coming up soon, so I\u2019m not sure everything can be arranged in time, but showing our appreciation in this way is a good start. I also wrote Gommers a letter.\u201d<\/p>\n

If not this year, then maybe next year<\/h2>

Van den Berg and her husband own a business in Molenschot, a village in the southern Netherlands. \u201cThese are hard times. I\u2019m definitely losing sleep over it. We sell touring caravans and camping gear. Obviously, that market has crashed completely. This was the first time we\u2019ve had to keep our doors closed on Easter Monday, which is normally our best day of the year.\u201d To make matters worse, their province, Brabant, was hit hard by the virus. \u201cWe have acquaintances who\u2019ve had it, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

She is quite proud of all the people who shared her message. \u201cI\u2019m glad I\u2019m not the only one who feels about Gommers that way, and I\u2019m glad that many people in the country seem to share those feelings.\u201d Her husband had visions of her making an appearance at Eva Jinek\u2019s talk show, but neither she nor her teenage sons were up for that. \u201cHonestly, that\u2019s not what I did it for. I just hope that those who have a say in the matter will nominate Gommers for a ribbon of honour. If not for this year\u2019s King\u2019s Day ceremonies, then maybe next year\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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