Reece, Miller Worked on the Frontlines of COVID

Reece, Miller

Worked on the Frontlines of COVID

From the emergency department to the internal medicine floor, Reece’s 12-hour shifts were filled with caring for patients with multiple ailments. Those who tested positive for COVID-19 were separated in a different area on the floor. Engrossed in Each year, in a candlelight ceremony, his work, his fears began to wane. Davis & Elkins College nursing graduates “You get into a routine, but you have to rerecite “The Florence Nightingale Pledge.” member you can never become complacent,” The last line reads, “ … as a ‘missioner of he said. “I’m always wiping down things, health’ I will dedicate myself to devoted constantly washing my hands and I wear a service to human welfare.” mask with a respirator at work.” For two nursing alumni, that pledge After 46 days in New York, he returned to has taken on a deeper and more intense his home in West Virginia with an expemeaning. Christopher Reece ’12 and Jaime rience of a lifetime and a bond to a new Miller ’16 and ’18 are both travel nurses circle of friends. providing care to patients in states where COVID-19 is considered “widespread” by For Miller, the COVID-19 pandemic was the Centers for Disease Control. declared after she started her assignment in the emergency department at Yale New Reece completed two assignments New Haven Hospital, Saint Raphael Campus in York City hospitals, a setting much different Connecticut. from his more recent worksites close to his home in Marlinton, West Virginia. After “It was the calm before the storm,” Miller graduating as a nurse practitioner in August remembers. “Then we started hearing 2019, he was looking for ways to make the more about COVID-19 and learning CDC best use of his clinical skills and accepted a protocol on how to treat patients and how position with Krucial Staffing. to protect ourselves.” “People who go into health care typically Although there were patients who tested have a good heart and generally want to positive for COVID-19, Miller explained help people,” Reece said. “I thought this was that the influx wasn’t nearly comparable to a good time to see how I could be of help.” what was happening in larger cities. Congratulations Autumn Appleby ’15. See 2015. On April 1, he arrived in New York not knowing what to expect. “It was a little bit of a shock moment, but I was never scared,” she said. “As a health care provider, this is what you sign up for “To be honest, initially it was terrifying,” and we were just doing our jobs. I just feel said Reece, who is a husband and father. fortunate that I have a job, that I’m healthy “COVID is non-discriminatory, so I and I can help others.”thought, ‘what if I get this?’ And, I started to think about my own mortality.” In April, she returned home to Elkins for a week off before her next assignment in On his first day of work, a bus came Boston and then it was on to Las Vegas, Nearound to transport Reece and other vada, for her third assignment. She brought health care providers from their hotel to with her the many skills she has learned and the hospital. With trepidation, he climbed is eager to experience new protocolsaboard and soon realized his new colleagues shared the same worries. “I praise D&E every day for the faculty and

memorable trip for all as they explored, mapped and camped in several caves throughout West Virginia and Virginia, stating, “It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done.”

1986

In February, when Robin White Rybczynski, Nottingham, Maryland, found out a few D&E friends were going to be in the area, she got busy and organized a couple of gatherings. The first one was Feb. 7 at Blackwall Hitch in Annapolis, Maryland, and then the next weekend, Feb. 15,

Christopher Reece ’12

Jaime Miller ’16 and ’18

staff who prepared me and gave me confidence as a nurse,” Miller said. “It’s nice to come back home and tell my friends at Davis Medical Center about my experiences because maybe they can incorporate some techniques I learned which could better my community as well.”

they were at Dragon Hops Brewing in Purcellville, Maryland. Those attending were Greg Marzola, Westminster/Sykesville, Maryland; Joel Weiss ’84, Rockville, Maryland; David Kirby ’83, Collierville, Tennessee; Laura Constantine ’81, Yorktown Heights, New York; Jennifer “Kay” Kirby Jeter ’78, Ridgeville, Delaware; Brian Anderson ’90, Vienna, West Virginia, his son, Max, and daughter, Madeline; Scott Sanders ’93, Joppa, Maryland; Bill ’73 and Nancy Rath Henderson ’73, Catonsville, Maryland; Reggie Owens ’83, Collierville, Tennessee; and H. Craig Hamilton ’81, Bristow, Virginia. Always a great time to get D&E alumni together!

1987

H. Brandt Widdoes Jr., Voorhees, New Jersey, writes some of his fondest lifetime memories are from D&E, the people he met and the beautiful region that is home in Elkins.

1989

David Bekenstein ’89, Reston, Virginia, is the managing director for Core Financial Advisory,