After enduring the darkest days of the pandemic at the bedsides of COVID patients in their final moments, UC Chaplain Paul Lehmann says the vaccine has provided the first glimmers of light.
It was fitting, says Paul Lehmann, that he received his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on the day of the winter solstice.
“From December 21 on, the days start to get longer, and the darkest days are behind us,” he says. “It will only get brighter from here.”
The metaphor offers some hope in what’s been a dark and devastating period for so many including Lehmann himself, who has witnessed the heartbreak firsthand as director of spiritual care for the Mohawk Valley Health System in Utica.