Canadians are finding creative ways to cheer on health care professionals shouldering the burden of leading the charge against COVID-19.

Since Thursday night, a flood of videos have been surfacing online, showing individuals and small groups of people making noise with pots, pans, clapping hands and singing songs of praise, in a collective show of support from the safety of their front stoop.

The local gestures of kindness now catching on in neighbourhoods across Ontario has given birth to #TogetherWeCanDoIt and #Cheer4HealthWorkers. They were spawned by a similar campaign which originated in hard hit countries such as Italy and Spain and has since been adopted by the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario. The RNAO has been pushing the campaign. CEO, Dr. Doris Grinspun hopes it will spread across the country to rally support for health care staff.

“We followed suit, because we’re getting ready for tough times,” said Grinspun of the Canadian version of the campaign. “It brings a sense of community for families.”

Grinspun is urging Canadians to join the collective shout-out every day at 7:30 p.m. from outside their homes while keeping a safe distance from each other. The campaign has been catching on, with people from provinces such as Newfoundland and Alberta already joining.

“In some places, they’re doing bands in the street,” she said.

Grinspun said the campaign is another means to raise public awareness about the things each person can do such as stay at home, avoid public gatherings, wash hands often and keep a safe social distance from one another. These things are critical to suppressing the spread of COVID-19 and in turn easing pressure on health care providers.

“We are all in this together,” she said. “It helps to create an anti-COVID movement.

“Together we’re going to push it away by doing the right things.”