News : Lamont and Lang address area Kiwanis Club

Carly Lang and Lillie Lamont share some of their story of working in NJ caring for COVID patients

Lillie Lamont and Carli Lang addressed the Vinton Kiwanis Club in Vinton. The two shared several experiences from their time in New Jersey as the fought alongside other healthcare workers in the battle against COVID-19.

They shared their work, and struggle to be able to find a place to stay, and other bits of their experiences on the east coast. The two found themselves caring for patients and performing tasks that required all the skills that they had learned at Virginia Gay Hospital as Certified Nursing Assistants, and then some.

The two spoke for a bit more than 30 minutes and the time flew as they talked. As workers at Virginia Gay Hospital, the two were expected to perform several tasks in New Jersey that they had learned here but found that they were thrown into situations that they could not have been prepared for.

While there the use of PPE (Personal Protection Equipment) was in short supply requiring masks to be worn until they were worn out. They shared that before being issued a new mask, you had to prove that the one you had been using, maybe for weeks, did indeed need to be replaced. Lamont shared how the person in charge would have to take a picture of the damaged mask and fill out paperwork indicating the reason that it was no longer useful.

The two have represented Vinton well, and we're proud to have followed them on this journey!

Both plan to attend college, leaving in mid-August for classes. Continuing in the field of science, Lamont plans to study Biomedical Sciences while Lang will take on Biosystems Engineering.

To watch the presentation, click here.