At the beginning of 2020, Taylor and Rachel Hartley were living out their callings as a photographer (Taylor) and a nurse (Rachel). When COVID-19 hit in March 2020, Rachel, a 2015 B.S.N. and 2020 Master of Science in Nursing alumna, was serving as a preoperative surgical nurse in Lynchburg, Virginia.   

 

Taylor and Rachel saw the increasing need in pandemic-ravaged New York City and sensed the Lord’s nudging for Rachel to use her post-Cedarville training as a critical care nurse. 

  

They made the 260-mile journey by boat from Virginia to Brooklyn, where Rachel served at Langone Hospital, which was being overwhelmed by COVID cases. The semi-tractor trailers doubling as temporary morgues near the hospital entrance was a heavy daily reminder of the pandemic’s toll.  

 

While they were both realistic about the risks to themselves, the Hartleys saw their mission as more than healthcare. There was an eternal mission at stake, among the sick and dying, and among the frontline workers with whom Rachel would serve.  

 

“My prayer and my hope is that in everything, His name would be made known,” Rachel shares during the podcast. “In that is my greatest hope.”  

 

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Rachel would be a guest again on the Cedarville Stories podcast as she continue to serve as a traveling nurse, caring for patients in Ohio, The Bahamas, and in Los Angeles.