The images in this photo compilation and the gallery that follows represent the most popular Health Beat posts from 2020. We are honored to share these stories of hope, compassion and courage. (Chris Clark and Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
Ryan Mooliyil's first Christmas will be a special memory for his parents because of a visit from Santa in the Gerber Foundation Neonatal Center at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Four-day-old Brielle Robertson wears a butterfly costume to celebrate Halloween in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
When Spectrum Health was in need of more hand sanitizer in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Amway rushed production of hand sanitizer and provided it at no cost. (Courtesy photo by Amway)
Emergency department workers share a mixture of trepidation and commitment as they work on the front line in the battle against the highly contagious virus. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
Victoria Wyatt, a 30-year-old from Grosse Pointe, Michigan, is on a mission to help others after a heart transplant gave her a second chance at life. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
After 10 days battling COVID-19 in the medical ICU, Don Force achieved a victory: He was off the ventilator, breathing on his own and moving to a regular hospital room. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Dee Worley first met her son, Luke, when he was 9 weeks old. Despite his injuries and uncertain future she remembers the "instant feeling of love for him." (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
A sense of dedication and pride echoes throughout the team in Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital's primary medical-surgical unit for patients battling COVID-19. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
Under the shadow of a global pandemic, Spectrum Health team members show up day after day to provide hands-on care for the sick and injured. (Spectrum Health Beat)
Charles Gibson, MD, a critical care surgeon at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital, has experienced racism in the health care setting, sometimes blatant, sometimes subtle. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
No one expects to suffer a stroke. But when it happened to an active teenager like Zosia Wasylewski, 14, it was especially shocking. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
As the need for COVID-19 testing grew in West Michigan, Spectrum Health opened a triage screening space outside the Butterworth Hospital Emergency Department. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Spectrum Health Blodgett Hospital intensive care unit team members work together to fight back against the COVID-19 virus. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
A lumination ovation provided a stirring close to National Nurses Week. Luminary bags sent messages of affection and encouragement to health care workers throughout West Michigan. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Throughout his young life, Nick Jaenicke has overcome heart problems. Last fall, his doctors said it was time for him to meet with the Spectrum Health heart transplant team. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Three Cascade Township women launched a candlelight thank you for health care providers. They asked neighbors to line their streets with lights, and the neighborhood responded. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
West Michigan companies like Byrne Inc. switched up their specialties and produced health care items, like these face shields, that they never imagined they would be creating. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Kendra Rose Ivey made her way into the world as the first baby born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 2020. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
All day long, nurses like Jennie Clevenger, RN, greet patients at their car windows to collect the samples needed to run a COVID-19 test. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Holly and Nate Kroeze didn't know when they'd be able to bring their baby, Scotland, home for good. Until then, they could see her via a live video feed from the NICU. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
When Spectrum Health reached out to the community for help finding supplies to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, donations and assistance poured in. (Courtesy photo)
The medical ICU team at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital share their thoughts about caring for patients who have COVID-19. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Spectrum Health was ready to use Grand Valley State University's Cook-DeVos Center for Health Sciences as a medical space to house patients seeking treatment for COVID-19. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
In a room at Spectrum Health Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, Henry Dai celebrated his remission by destroying a replica of the tumor that once grew in his chest. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Christopher Yates has gone through years of treatment for clubfoot. Spectrum Health physician assistant Susan Laham, PA-C, has helped him learn to walk, run and jump. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
A car hit Ryan Brown as he rode his moped. With a severe chest wall injury and in excruciating pain, he could barely breathe or talk upon his arrival in the emergency room. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Spectrum Health nurses like Amber Besko, RN, say they don't consider themselves heroes. Providing care is what they are called to do and working during a pandemic doesn't change that. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
"I had no reservation about rolling up my sleeve at all," said Marc McClelland, MD, who received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at Spectrum Health. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
On street corners near Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital, people came with signs to show their appreciation for front-line health care workers. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
Navy reservist Ryan Thatcher served as a nurse at New York City's Bellevue Hospital during the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak in April. (Courtesy photo)
Bryar Johnston, 2, has fought acute myeloid leukemia, a rare form of bone marrow cancer, from the time he turned 6 months old. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
After months of excitement and anticipation to welcome their new son, Alecia and John Vanden Berg accepted that their daughters would not be able to meet little Jaxon in the hospital. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
The Elenbaas family has lived in lockdown for 3½ years, since their daughter, Jada, was born without an immune system. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
Ian, left, and Isaac Diehm are graduates of the Spectrum Health Helen DeVos Children's Hospital Intensive Feeding Program. They still return to the clinic for progress evaluation. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
After an extremely complicated pregnancy, Mallory Hoeve delivered a healthy baby girl. "We know how blessed we are," she says. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
After 124 days in the hospital, Lexanne Sherrell graduated from the NICU in the Gerber Foundation Neonatal Center at Spectrum Health Helen DeVos Children's Hospital. She was going home. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Lonnie Martin returned home from a Caribbean cruise in October 2019, but the feeling of being on the high seas never left her. She felt constantly seasick, on land. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Antibody testing—also known as serological testing—has been eagerly sought as a way to determine who has overcome a COVID-19 infection. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
A new portable intubation chamber is demonstrated. Jes Smith, MD, developed the chamber to protect front-line health care workers during the pandemic. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Little Tinley never stops smiling—from adoption as a baby through months of leukemia treatments and, now, a happily ever after. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
June and Glenn Troyer, a couple in their 80s, both fell ill with COVID-19. After spending 10 days apart, they reunited in physical therapy. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
Unable to have visitors, Michael Clem, 68, uses a whiteboard to send a message from Spectrum Health Rehab and Nursing Center on Kalamazoo Avenue SE. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
When patients enter Spectrum Health hospitals and clinics, a cherished team of patient service representatives are there to greet them and make a difference in the care experience. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
As COVID-19 cases surge this fall, the Spectrum Health lab runs up to 4,800 tests a day. By December, team members processed more than 500,000 COVID-19 tests. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
After a 99% blockage and double bypass, James Cook turned his health around by cutting dairy, oil and meat from his diet. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
John McKay's first sign of lung disease came in late 2016. He learned he had pulmonary fibrosis, a condition that causes severe scarring in his lungs. John needed new lungs. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Theresa Glass considered all the possibilities as she worried about the heavy feeling in her chest. Could it be COVID-19? A heart attack didn't seem plausible. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
After childhood heart surgery, Brent Morton didn't realize he needed follow-up treatment as an adult. He blamed his fatigue and breathlessness on being overweight. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Work-at-home insurance coders joined Spectrum Health's fight against the virus, deploying to the front line to sanitize hospital touch points. (Taylor Ballek | Spectrum Health Beat)
Kaitlyn Seykora baffled medical professionals all her life. Just this year, a geneticist provided a diagnosis—one so rare, not much is known about it. (Chris Clark | Spectrum Health Beat)
Many of us learned the true meaning of that word this year as a virus turned our world upside down.
Suddenly, we set aside our differences and came together to help our neighbors in a time of great need.
Sewing circles fired up their machines to make masks. Local manufacturers innovated to create items health care systems needed – sanitizer, face shields and more. People dug deep to donate what they could to help the cause.
Health care teams rallied to the call, holding people’s hands as they battled COVID-19, collecting and testing specimens, trying new treatments, and spreading the word about how to stay healthy and well.
Through it all, an outpouring of community support spurred these health care heroes, giving them energy when their reserves dwindled.
Then came hope as scientists made discoveries and the federal government authorized new treatments and vaccines.
It is little surprise many of the year’s top stories, chosen by our readers, are those that illustrate the best of humanity and medical innovation.
Racism takes a toll, physical and emotional, on Black health care professionals. Addressing it could have far-reaching benefits, improving the overall health of the community.
Wondering which stories rounded out the top 50? Here you go:
A tent extension of the emergency department is helping to screen those who have symptoms so medical workers are able to best serve the medical needs of the overall community.
A long-standing preparedness plan allows Spectrum Health to use a Grand Valley State University building as an off-site medical space, should the need arise.
The Vanden Berg family found a way around COVID-19 restrictions to share their newborn son with his siblings—holding him up to a hospital window while his sisters waved and blew kisses from the lawn below.
Kaitlyn Seykora baffled medical professionals all her life. Just last month, a geneticist provided a diagnosis—one so rare, not much is known about it.
Thank you for staying strong with us through a year like no other. Your support, resilience and strength have made a difference in our community. If you would like to send messages of strength for our community and health care team members, visit spectrumhealth.org/covid19/thank-you.