PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — As a nurse, Kelcy Talbot makes house calls daily for patients, but what she did the day following Hurricane Helene was way more than just another day at the office. It was going above and beyond for a senior in need.
Talbot has worked with Nurse Next Door for the past three months. One of her first patients was Jack Doherty, and she said they became friends immediately.
“We hit it off from the very beginning with our sense of humor and everything,” said Talbot.
“She’s not one of these, ‘ok, my hour-and-a-half is up, goodbye,’ it was obvious from the very first day,” said Doherty.
Talbot says given Jack’s condition and proximity to the beach, there was extra concern during Hurricane Helene.
“I couldn’t sleep all night knowing that he was going to be that close to the ocean and the surge that was coming,” said Talbot. “After the hurricane I reached out to all of our clients to make sure they were safe and I couldn’t get a hold of Jack.”
So Talbot took it upon herself to drive into a very damaged neighborhood and then walk more than one mile through knee-deep water filled with unknown debris to check on her patient.
“And I used my GPS on my phone for the walking directions, and it was hard because there was so much water everywhere, and it was still raining at the time, so I was sopping wet,” said Talbot.
Talbot’s number one concern was Doherty’s medication, more than 40 prescriptions that she is in charge of organizing.
“Oh without the meds I wouldn’t be even talking to you, I wouldn’t be able to talk, so that’s very important,” said Doherty.
Eventually, Talbot was able to wade past the down trees and power lines and make it to his front door.
“And I just knocked on the door, and I peaked in, and I said, ‘hi, I’m Kelcy from Nurse Next Door, and I was just coming by to check on Jack and make sure he was ok,’ and that’s when I met his husband, and he said, ‘oh yea, thank you for coming by, everything is fine, he’s at the condos,”’ said Talbot.
It turns out that Doherty was already evacuated to a safe location. However, he says the compassion and dedication she showed for him was something he’ll never forget.
“There aren’t too many people in this world that I know of that would do that, just to check on a friend or neighbor or client, but to go out after a hurricane that was horrendous,” said Doherty.
Talbot says her actions were nothing special, it is the reason she signed up to be a Nurse Next Door.
“It really honestly didn’t even cross my mind about the danger, more so just trying to get to him to know that he is safe was my number one priority,” said Talbot.
Back-to-back storm events brought record storm surge, rainfall and winds to the Tampa Bay region. The question some are asking now isn’t where people should rebuild, but where we should let nature regain control.
