MINNEAPOLIS — For Kyla Johnson, it's been a while since she last sat down at a salon like Urban Village SalonSpa in North Loop.
"Oh my gosh...to be honest, like two years ago?" she said with a laugh. "and it's my second time getting my hair colored."
A new do for this PCA at Regions hospital is nice but Johnson says it's even nicer that this moment is not about COVID-19. To call the last few months for her stressful is an understatement.
"It's hard to differentiate yourself, from working as a health care worker and then having time for yourself," she explained. Johnson says she works with COVID patients daily, and worries that she will bring home COVID-19 to her mother or her sister, who are both in the vulnerable category.
She explained that even on her days off, she has a hard time sleeping sometimes.
Urban Village co-owner Bee Peterson said she and her crew will take care of services free of charge for health care workers like Johnson.
Peterson said the idea was born initially from struggles of having to close as soon as they opened.
"We opened March 1 of 2020, and our business has not gone according to plan or expected," Peterson explained.
But "struggles" isn't the ultimate label Peterson is choosing put on what many have called a wretched year. She said she's opting for gratitude.
"Health care workers, for sure, are taking care of everybody in this community and we just thought that would be a great way to give back," she said. "To offer those people who are taking care of us, a service to take care of them."
And if she could add another label on 2020, she said it would be "hope."
"I feel so positive and optimistic about 2021, and moving on," she said. "It's going to be a time of healing for all of us. we'll make it through."