Do What You Can: High Point Nurse Serves in New York
Photo Courtesy of CBS and Bevin Strickland
With the extended stay-at-home order, we can easily find ourselves discouraged by another long stretch of days stuck inside. And while it can feel like all of the updates we hear each day consist of more and more bad news, we hope that today we can bring you a beacon of good news.
Meet Bevin Strickland, a nurse from right here in High Point, who decided that if there was no good news to be found, she would become the good news. At 47, this single mom decided that she wasn’t going to sit by and wait for her life to go back to normal.
Bevin told CBS News’ Steve Hartman, she remembers asking herself, “Why am I sitting here?” After discussions with her family on the drastic decision she felt called to make, Bevin eventually decided that she couldn’t spend any more time on the sidelines when there were other healthcare workers who desperately needed extra hands and a little extra heart to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo Courtesy of CBS and Bevin Strickland
She made the short-term move to Queens, NY, to work as a nurse at Mount Sinai – a frontline hospital treating COVID-19 patients and fighting the disease. Bevin says she’s a person who is not easily shaken, so she sees it as her duty to use her unflappable nature and medical skillset to serve in this time of need. And while Bevin has to be legally paid by Mount Sinai, she has already committed to donating all of her salary post-expenses to the support staff at the hospital.
“I believe it’s our duty,” Bevin told CBS News. “I believe we should be compelled to do something when we can.”
We may not all be able to serve as frontline nurses, but there is some duty we can fulfill today to love our community during COVID-19: maybe it’s a donation, a FaceTime call to a friend, or an offer to pick up groceries for our neighbor. Whatever your duty is today, we’re rooting for you as you step off the sideline and do what you can.
Keep Discovering our High Points,
The HPD Team
We’re proud that Bevin calls High Point home, even if right now Queens, NY is calling on her. To hear her full interview, visit CBS News interview with her here.