SURVIVING ALUMNI IN ACTION
The pandemic descended upon us Lipscomb alumni across the nation stepped up to the challenge From health care to education, from donations of money to donations of time and expertise, from one-on-one caring to marshalling the resources of an entire business, the Bisons brought the Lipscomb spirit of innovation and service to their neighbors in 2020.
BRINGING MORE HOPE THAN FEAR Dr. James Parnell (’06), attending physician at the emergency room at Sumner Regional Medical Center in Gallatin, Tennessee, now works in a world where patients can no longer see the face of the doctor caring for them. A world where one of the most important duties of a nurse is to hold the hand of a dying patient. A world where providing hope, in the face of rising fear, is a crucial management goal.
“It’s a scary time to live in this paradox, and I ask myself, ‘How do I help?’ God has blessed me with skills and ability to care for patients, so I have great peace in that. I have to trust that He has me where he wants me to be.
“As the leader of the team, I look in the faces of the nurses and technicians, and there is a lot of fear and anxiety I see on those faces. My goal is to have more hope than fear, to block out the COVID noise and show that Jesus is around us all the time.”
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CARING FOR EMOTIONAL AS WELL AS PHYSICAL NEEDS Often these days, nurses find themselves taking care of emotional needs just as much as physical needs. Megan Turnington (LA ’06), began an Amazon wish list where the public could buy COVID patients in Nashville’s TriStar Centennial Medical Center items they can use to make the days a little brighter, such as cell phone chargers, coloring books, word searches or puzzle books. The list started as a way to meet the needs of the health care workers, but quickly turned into a mechanism to fight the loneliness and discomfort of COVID patients, who are not allowed visitors. “That has really taken off and has been really cool to see,” said Kaleigh Sabin (’18, LA ’14), a charge nurse in the COVID ward for TriStar Centennial Medical Center.
