Lashon Miller RN, Murfreesboro, TN 2020

Lashon Miller is the director of nursing for the Rutherford Co. Health Dept. and at the onset of the pandemic, was in charge of testing for COVID-19. “Reflecting on those early weeks of the pandemic, the fear and uncertainty was very real,” says Miller. “It placed an unprecedented demand on our nursing staff. Our resilience was tested as we were faced with the incredibly difficult task of organizing and operating Rutherford County’s COVID-19 response. As events progressed it didn’t get easier or more forgiving, but we grew stronger and more resilient. Our family and friends will never fully understand the physical and emotional toll that it took on us, or the sacrifices that we made for our community. We went through some of the darkest times that we as nurses have ever had to endure, but we learned to kick back at the darkness until it bled daylight. Now there is light. Now there is hope”.

Photo by Bill Steber
Carbon print from wet plate collodion tintype