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A Moment to be Story by Jade Brown Photography provided by
Page Poppell Blanton
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Carried � S E RV I N G
ictionary.com defines "mission" as an important goal or purpose that is accompanied by strong conviction; a calling or vocation. Mission is the word Page Blanton used to describe six weeks in her ICU Crisis Response assignment at Beth Israel Hospital in Newark, New Jersey. Page has been an RN for nine years working in the Level 1 trauma center at Memorial Hospital in Savannah, GA. She also has experience in the Cardiac ICU. When Covid-19 hit the United States, certain areas of the country, specifically New York, New Jersey, and California, were hit especially hard. As a certified nurse, Page received emails from nursing travel agencies who were desperately trying to recruit extra help in these hardhit areas. For weeks, she deleted these emails, thinking that there was nothing she could do to help. However, after reading the third daily Covid-19 update and feeling heavy-hearted about the situation that the nurses who were working in these hard-hit areas were facing, she decided that there was something she could do. She could "bring rest, joy, peace and a moment just to absorb their new reality of life," she said, "a moment to be carried." With her husband and her family's support, she set to work researching the options and the need. In the process, Page was connected with a travel agency and accepted her commission on April 16, 2020, to begin her journey on April 21, 2020. In a matter of five days, Page was able to find a furnished apartment in Newark, get certified as a licensed RN in WAYNE MAGAZINE
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