Collected Item: “Toni Downs Oral History, 2021/02/20”
Give your story a title.
Silver Linings: Oral Interview with a Nurse
What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?
audio interview
Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.
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.
Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?
#silverlinings
Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)
Alisha Downs
Give this story a date.
2021-02-20