Item
Toni Downs Oral History, 2021/02/20
Media
Title (Dublin Core)
Toni Downs Oral History, 2021/02/20
Mini oral history with Toni Downs, 02/20/2021
Description (Dublin Core)
Toni Downs is the Director of Surgical Services, the Cath Lab, and Endoscopy at Mercy Regional Hospital in Manhattan, Kansas. She is 64 and has been in nursing since she was 21 years old. She has worked there for over a decade now, and has seen many challenges while working there. This pandemic has been the worst she’s seen since being a nurse, but it is not without its blessings. The nursing profession has been strong and fierce in fighting this pandemic and as a director, Toni sees their dedication and strength. When asked what her silver lining is during this pandemic, she immediately goes to nursing. Toni touches on other front line workers that deserve recognition, but she thinks that the pandemic has caused people to pay more attention to the hard work nurses do for their community. She sees being a nurse as a caring and rewarding job, and is glad other people are starting to see it too.
Recording Date (Dublin Core)
Creator (Dublin Core)
Contributor (Dublin Core)
Event Identifier (Dublin Core)
Type (Dublin Core)
oral history
Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)
English
Business & Industry
English
Healthcare
Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)
Contributor's Tags (a true folksonomy) (Friend of a Friend)
Collection (Dublin Core)
Date Submitted (Dublin Core)
02/21/2021
Date Modified (Dublin Core)
03/13/2021
03/23/2021
09/05/2021
01/24/2024
Date Created (Dublin Core)
02/20/2021
Interviewer (Bibliographic Ontology)
Alisha Downs
Interviewee (Bibliographic Ontology)
Toni Downs
Location (Omeka Classic)
Augusta
Kansas
United States of America
Language (Dublin Core)
English
Duration (Omeka Classic)
00:02:12
abstract (Bibliographic Ontology)
Toni Downs is the Director of Surgical Services, the Cath Lab, and Endoscopy at Mercy Regional Hospital in Manhattan, Kansas. She is 64 and has been in nursing since she was 21 years old. She has worked there for over a decade now, and has seen many challenges while working there. This pandemic has been the worst she’s seen since being a nurse, but it is not without its blessings. The nursing profession has been strong and fierce in fighting this pandemic and as a director, Toni sees their dedication and strength. When asked what her silver lining is during this pandemic, she immediately goes to nursing. Toni touches on other front line workers that deserve recognition, but she thinks that the pandemic has caused people to pay more attention to the hard work nurses do for their community. She sees being a nurse as a caring and rewarding job, and is glad other people are starting to see it too.
Transcription (Omeka Classic)
Alisha Downs 0:00
Hi, my name is Alisha Downs, and I’m an undergraduate student as ASU enrolled in HST 494. The date is Saturday February, 20th, 2021. The time is 8:30 AM, and I am speaking with Toni Downs. I want to ask you a question about your pandemic experience. Before I do, I would like to ask for your consent to record this response for the COVID-19 archive. The COVID-19 archive is a digital archive at ASU that is collecting pandemic experiences. Do I have your consent to record your response and add it to the archive with your name?
Toni Downs 0:43
Yes.
Alisha Downs 0:45
Thank you! First, can you tell me your name and age?
Toni Downs 0:50
My name is Toni Downs, and I am 64.
Alisha Downs 0:53
And how about your race?
Toni Downs 0:55
I’m Caucasian.
Alisha Downs 0:56
And where do you live?
Toni Downs 0:58
I live in Augusta, Kansas.
Alisha Downs 1:02
Thank you! Now I’d like to ask you a quick question about the pandemic. We’ve experienced a lot of changes in 2020 and many have been negative and disruptive, but perhaps it’s not all bad. What’s one positive thing you’ve experienced during the pandemic?
Toni Downs 1:18
Well since I’m a nurse, I feel like our profession has gotten a lot of notoriety even though we are just one of many people taking care of our communities. There are so many front line workers and store- people that work at the grocery stores and people delivering packages through the trucking system. I think everybody deserves recognition, but I do feel like the nursing profession is definitely seen as a very rewarding and caring profession, which it always has been, but I feel like the pandemic had really brought that out.
Alisha Downs 2:05
That’s wonderful; that’s beautifully said! Well, thank you for your time today.
Hi, my name is Alisha Downs, and I’m an undergraduate student as ASU enrolled in HST 494. The date is Saturday February, 20th, 2021. The time is 8:30 AM, and I am speaking with Toni Downs. I want to ask you a question about your pandemic experience. Before I do, I would like to ask for your consent to record this response for the COVID-19 archive. The COVID-19 archive is a digital archive at ASU that is collecting pandemic experiences. Do I have your consent to record your response and add it to the archive with your name?
Toni Downs 0:43
Yes.
Alisha Downs 0:45
Thank you! First, can you tell me your name and age?
Toni Downs 0:50
My name is Toni Downs, and I am 64.
Alisha Downs 0:53
And how about your race?
Toni Downs 0:55
I’m Caucasian.
Alisha Downs 0:56
And where do you live?
Toni Downs 0:58
I live in Augusta, Kansas.
Alisha Downs 1:02
Thank you! Now I’d like to ask you a quick question about the pandemic. We’ve experienced a lot of changes in 2020 and many have been negative and disruptive, but perhaps it’s not all bad. What’s one positive thing you’ve experienced during the pandemic?
Toni Downs 1:18
Well since I’m a nurse, I feel like our profession has gotten a lot of notoriety even though we are just one of many people taking care of our communities. There are so many front line workers and store- people that work at the grocery stores and people delivering packages through the trucking system. I think everybody deserves recognition, but I do feel like the nursing profession is definitely seen as a very rewarding and caring profession, which it always has been, but I feel like the pandemic had really brought that out.
Alisha Downs 2:05
That’s wonderful; that’s beautifully said! Well, thank you for your time today.
This item was submitted on February 21, 2021 by Alisha Downs using the form “Share Your Story” on the site “A Journal of the Plague Year”: https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive
Click here to view the collected data.