Ouachita Stories

Previously published in the 2021 Ouachitonian yearbook

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic left many students with ruined plans during the summer of 2020. For sophomore music and chemistry major Abbi Sullins from Benton, that was not the case. Sullins worked as a medical screener for the coronavirus at the Saline Memorial Hospital in her hometown of Benton. Sullins had a history at Saline Memorial as her mother Amy worked in the hospital for many years when Sullins was a child.

“I grew up in that hospital. I went from being the little girl playing in the waiting room, to the first line of defense for the coronavirus.” Sullins said. Sullins worked in the emergency department and was responsible for screening every person, patient, visitor or staff who entered the hospital. This screening was a protective measure put in place to shield the hospital patients and staff from COVID-19.

“At the time, I was a little scared, the thought of possible exposure was very serious,” Sullins said. Although this idea of possible exposure was concerning, Sullins and the rest of the Saline Memorial staff did their jobs very well. “I worked in the emergency department for three months during a global pandemic and never contracted the virus. This speaks volumes to the protections and precautions that were put in place,” Sullins said.

Sullins was not the only one to experience the feelings of uncertainty and worry. In the early days of the pandemic there was a large fear shared by the general public surrounding the virus. Sullins had to quickly adjust her perspective from student, to essential hospital staff.

“The depth of the effect that the pandemic took on the staff, even into their personal lives, was intense. They put a lot on the line to protect our community,” she said.

Those few months working in the hospital altered the course of Sullins’ life and prompted her to change her major to chemistry and music prior to her return to Ouachita’s campus. Before the outbreak of the virus, Sullins was a music education major with plans to teach high school choir. “I realized that although I had a passion for teaching, working in the hospital around patient care showed me a passion that I had for medicine,” Sullins said.

The coronavirus completely changed the United States in a matter of months. Sullins turned a situation that many would see as only negative and made the best out of it. “As much as COVID-19 uprooted everyone’s lives, had it never happened, I would have never realized my passion for patient care. I am grateful for the opportunity that the coronavirus created for me,” Sullins said.

Photo by Abby Blankenship

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