I have passed the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center many times, by bike and on foot. Every time, I noticed two things: few, if any, bikes parked in its vicinity--and how many people in lab coats or scrubs were smoking just outside its doors.
And I've been accused of "ignoring the risks" for cycling in Manhattan, and other parts of New York City.
(For the record, I've never smoked, wear a helmet, am fully vaccinated and wear a mask when I'm within a couple of meters of any other person.)
Anyway, I have noticed more health-care workers of all kinds riding bicycles. As a matter of fact, in the pandemic's early days, I gave the old Cannondale M300 mountain bike I fixed up to someone who works in Mount Sinai-Queens, a block and a half up the Crescent Street bike lane from my apartment. His is not the only bike I see parked in the racks outside the facilities.
I mention all of this because I wonder whether what I'm experiencing and observing is indicative of wider trends, as they say in academic and marketing (!) circles. The question particularly interests me in light of a story that came my way: the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota, has been named a Bronze-Level Bicycle Friendly Business by the League of American Bicyclists. In conferring this designation, the LAB cited "improved bike racks, secure parking rooms and tips for employees to ensure a safe and secure ride to and from work" as bases for so categorizing the Mayo.
We've all heard the admonition, "Healer, heal thyself" (Cura te ipsum.) It looks like the Mayo is taking steps to encourage its employees to follow that nugget of wisdom. I hope other health-care facilities are doing the same--which, I admit, can be a difficult thing to do when perhaps no other profession has so many stressed-out people, especially in a time like this.
