(Alex Boye, left, singing for workers and patients at Lakeview Hospital in Bountiful. Photo: Paul Nelson)
BOUNTIFUL, Utah – A heartfelt “thank you” from a popular Utah singer is being given to the first responders who kept people healthy at the heart of the pandemic. Alex Boye held a concert at a hospital in Bountiful, and one particular survivor was there to see him sing, again.
This wasn’t the first time Ana Lucio had seen Boye sing. He performed at Lakeview Hospital last year when the world was at the very beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. At that time, Lucio was recovering from the virus, needing to be on a ventilator and spending a total of seven weeks in the hospital.
Last year’s Boye concert was the first time she had been allowed outside after she had been admitted. She says it’s easy for people to feel down or depressed, and the music can help share hope with the world.
Through a translator, Ana said, “I remember having such strong emotion the day of last year’s concert.”
Boye says he was inspired to hold these concerts after hearing horror stories from doctors and nurses who were overwhelmed with patients when the pandemic was at its worst. He believes the disease hit frontline workers in a more emotionally profound way than it did the rest of us.
“I remember seeing the marks on their faces rom the masks that they wear and it was just raw and red. That, to me, just spoke volumes,” he says. “It really did affect me in a powerful way. So, I thought, ‘Let’s come and bring some music.’ If I can lighten someone’s load for three minutes and 55 seconds with a song, that’s something I would love to do.”
Boye says the mood is extremely different during this year’s show compared to last year. He says people have more hope and optimism since a vaccine is available infection numbers are generally declining. He compares it to a springtime of mind.
“You can see, just as the spring came, the same feeling came in our minds,” he says.
