Heroes of Hope

Brandon Bougard, Assistant Vice President of Nursing Services at AdventHealth Tampa, who reminds us not to take life for granted and to cherish each day.
...
“Everything hit reset and we’re now in a new normal. But it also gave me time to work on different projects that I normally wouldn’t have time to work on. I have a book coming out in December and I currently have a podcast. I think these have been major outlets for me to cope with everything. I knew I needed something to do with my time, so a friend of mine and I decided to start a podcast. It’s helpful to talk through some of your anxieties with someone else. I think the friendships and bonds you’ve had before, also help you cope because you know you’re not in it alone.”

“If I could share a piece of advice with people, I would say to not take life for granted and love each other. If there’s nothing else that we have, we can build on what we already know and just love each other.”

Linda "Sue" Briers, Director of Food and Nutritional Services at AdventHealth Ocala, who encourages us all to march on.

“Being a competitive triathlete, I train for local and national events. Triathlon has been hit hard with the closing of pools and gyms. I’ve had to be creative in my training for events not knowing if they will even happen. When they closed the pools, I had to be the first online to Amazon to snap up a swimming tether so I could swim in place in a home pool. I did that for two months before I could get back into a competition pool. Training for the bike portion became a lonely experience as group rides were nixed. Now, I spend over five hours at a time on a trainer riding and watching movies on television in a room in my house.”

“Event after event has been cancelled and trying to stay motivated for the possibility of the next one actually happening has become harder and harder. I still have events out there that may happen so I haven’t given up hope. Training is a lifestyle and a priority, so I march on.”

Moses Brown, Chaplain at AdventHealth Connerton, reminds us to appreciate the blessings no matter how small. 

"It was around this time of the year, it was near November more than 30 years ago, and one boy came up to me and said, hey pastor could you give us one of those meals that they have on TV? I said, what do you mean? Where people sit down at the table and every eats turkey and all these other stuff. I promised them and said we will never let you have a Thanksgiving where you don’t have a Thanksgiving meal, and we’re still living that." 

"It feeds my soul because, it gives me a reflection of where I was. I said this was me, just because I was taken in by a well to do family, whereas my origin came from a little girl who didn’t have nothing. I know that would have been me out there, sleeping in a trailer with no mattress and I feel like that God shift my situation, so I could be able to make somebody else’s situation better. My blessing to me is not a blessing unless it can be a blessing for someone else."

Amber Windsor-Hardy, Senior Community Health Coordinator for AdventHealth West Florida Division reminds us that even in the toughest of times, we can come together and support one another. 

“I’m engaged and we planned on getting married this October and we had to make the difficult decision to postpone. We understood the severity of the current situation, and felt we had a duty to not only protect ourselves but also our loved ones. But we’re learning to be okay with it. My fiancé and I have been each other’s support.”

“I’ve had to learn to be more accepting of change. I feel like the pandemic is making us learn the importance of helping each other and teaching us how our actions affect everything around us. It has forced us to reevaluate how we’ve been living. I really hope as one community we understand what’s happening right now is affecting everyone, and we can come together and support one another.”