Building a New Normal for Skip
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I'd like you to meet Nicole Skipper, better known to those that love her as "Skip"...
Nicole is a close friend of mine and co-worker at AirLink/VitaLink with New Hanover Regional Medical Center as a North Carolina Advanced Emergency Medical Technician, NC AEMT.
I had only worked one 12 hour shift with Skip at VitaLink prior to Hurricane Florence. Our Storm Team worked eight days straight, assisting with saving lives and transporting patients safely to life-altering appointments, beginning on September 12 at 0700.
When Skip was finally able to clock out and leave, she returned to her home to find approximately six inches of standing water throughout the residence. She and her 8-year-old son, Tyler, lost their home and everything in it.
FEMA came out to do an assessment and condemned the structure as they determined it was a total loss. FEMA did provide her with the individual assistance stipend for shelter, which went directly to clothes and necessities for Tyler and herself due to immediately being able to stay with her parents nearby. After filing for individual assistance with FEMA, Nicole filed with her homeowners' insurance and her claim was denied stating the damage to her home was not due to the storm.
As the one year anniversary approaches, I am reminded that she has been surviving for nearly a year. Almost 365 days of adapting to a new normal and overcoming.
It is not Nicole's nature to ask for help. She is always the one helping others in more ways than I can explain.
While serving on the Storm Team together, I witnessed Skip helping people of all ages by calming the chaos around them and helping them adjust to their new normal.
At an assisted living complex in Wilmington, she played a few bars from an Eagles song on an elderly couple's guitar after we helped the lady from the floor to her sofa while on a "lift assist" 911 call.
She organized and raised funds to bless a co-worker's 9-year-old son with a video game system for being our comic relief, keeping our BLS/ILS VitaLink group cohesive during our Lockdown.
While there were many memories made, these are two of my favorites.
Nicole gives gifts from her heart and is without a doubt one of the most thoughtful souls I have ever known. (She may or may not have made me cry with the gift she made me for Christmas.......)
It is a blessing and an honor to be able to give back to her... will you help me, help her build a new normal?
Let's get Nicole and Tyler back home!
Nicole is a close friend of mine and co-worker at AirLink/VitaLink with New Hanover Regional Medical Center as a North Carolina Advanced Emergency Medical Technician, NC AEMT.
I had only worked one 12 hour shift with Skip at VitaLink prior to Hurricane Florence. Our Storm Team worked eight days straight, assisting with saving lives and transporting patients safely to life-altering appointments, beginning on September 12 at 0700.
When Skip was finally able to clock out and leave, she returned to her home to find approximately six inches of standing water throughout the residence. She and her 8-year-old son, Tyler, lost their home and everything in it.
FEMA came out to do an assessment and condemned the structure as they determined it was a total loss. FEMA did provide her with the individual assistance stipend for shelter, which went directly to clothes and necessities for Tyler and herself due to immediately being able to stay with her parents nearby. After filing for individual assistance with FEMA, Nicole filed with her homeowners' insurance and her claim was denied stating the damage to her home was not due to the storm.
As the one year anniversary approaches, I am reminded that she has been surviving for nearly a year. Almost 365 days of adapting to a new normal and overcoming.
It is not Nicole's nature to ask for help. She is always the one helping others in more ways than I can explain.
While serving on the Storm Team together, I witnessed Skip helping people of all ages by calming the chaos around them and helping them adjust to their new normal.
At an assisted living complex in Wilmington, she played a few bars from an Eagles song on an elderly couple's guitar after we helped the lady from the floor to her sofa while on a "lift assist" 911 call.
She organized and raised funds to bless a co-worker's 9-year-old son with a video game system for being our comic relief, keeping our BLS/ILS VitaLink group cohesive during our Lockdown.
While there were many memories made, these are two of my favorites.
Nicole gives gifts from her heart and is without a doubt one of the most thoughtful souls I have ever known. (She may or may not have made me cry with the gift she made me for Christmas.......)
It is a blessing and an honor to be able to give back to her... will you help me, help her build a new normal?
Let's get Nicole and Tyler back home!
Organizer and beneficiary
Sunnie Batson
Organizer
Rocky Point, NC
Nicole Skipper
Beneficiary