Honoring Heroes

Several months ago, when the first wave of COVID-19 hit in our nation, we asked our community to submit nominations of the brave individuals they knew who are working on the front-lines to keep us safe and healthy. We received over 700 stories from loved ones, co-workers, and neighbors, nominating the heroes in their lives. We thoughtfully read each and every nomination and selected 100 individuals to receive a free nutribullet each as a small token of our appreciation.

Now, as months have passed, and we continue to navigate our ways through this new normal, we are honored to highlight two of these individuals and their stories – which have striking similarities.

Both women highlighted below were nominated by their fathers. They are medical professionals working in high-risk circumstances during these unprecedented times – all while being expectant mothers. They are our heroes. It’s during difficult and scary times like these that we can rely on those who are offering aide and support to help us make it through. They’re the silver lining in all of this.

Rachel White

Rachel White is an Emergency Medicine Physician at Indiana University North Hospital, as well as a wife and mom who is expecting her second child this summer. “As a parent,” says Rachel’s dad, Bob, “you never want to see your children in harm’s way.  Knowing Rachel deals with life and death situations daily and encounters potential COVID-19 patients is of great concern to both her mom and me, especially, since she is pregnant and due to deliver in July.”

According to Rachel, the hardest part of her job is being the face of calm in the storm of death, disease, and pain. “Patients come to the Emergency Department during the most stressful and fear-provoking situations of their lives, and they look to me to comfort them and to provide help during these times.” The most rewarding aspect of her job? “Saving the life of a dying patient so they can have one more day with their family, finding a heartbeat of a fetus for the mother who thinks they are losing their pregnancy or helping a patient be relieved from severe pain when they are most in need.”

Kelly Montgomery

Kelly Montgomery, LPN is a traveling nurse, based in Searcy, Arkansas who was nominated by her father, Jeff. Like Rachel, Kelly is also a wife and mom-to-be. Before becoming a nurse, Kelly thought the hardest thing she ever did was nursing school. But, “becoming pregnant and traveling clinic to clinic during a pandemic quickly out-paced everything else,” she says. For her, staying healthy for not only herself but her husband and their baby is her highest priority.

Rachel and Kelly, thank you again for all that you do and for sharing your stories with us. We’re honored to have you as a part of the nutribullet family. We also wanted to take this moment to thank all the heroes in our communities: the healthcare workers, farmers, teachers, parents, frontline workers, and those who continue to serve our communities so that we can continue to thrive. THANK YOU!