Listen to Dr. Gail Young, PhD in Health Behavior, share about living with her husband and two young children in Florida during the Covid-19 pandemic. She was born in Jamaica and lived there until she was 19-years-old when she matriculated to Howard University. She shares that part of her ancestry is Scottish descent, Indian (from India), and African. She identifies as Black Caribbean American.
Dr. Young shares: “Twelve years ago I was a PhD graduate in public health… During the pandemic it was such a hard time for me, because everything that I had been trained to do and everything I knew... I'm literally now a stay-at-home mom... And so, I was like, I'm not being used… I need to be volunteering, or I need to be getting a job that I can help in that capacity and…it was very, very challenging for me to not be able to serve in that way I was trained… So, everything I knew I just kept seeing unravel in the pandemic… I saw every social media campaign you were trained to do or not do happening. I saw the interaction of the CDC and the government and that strain…that caused… just me so much turmoil, because I feel like to whom much is given, much is expected…”
“…Now I just feel supercharged and that I really have to take that scripture to heart and remember that ‘to whom much is given, much is expected;’ So, you really have to use a talent that you've been given and make a difference, so that's where I am now just really recharged, rejuvenated… I definitely didn’t come out to the pandemic depressed or anything like that... During the pandemic I was sad… There's a scripture that I held on to during the pandemic and it says, ‘Bare each other’s burdens,’ but then there’s also the scripture that says, ‘Cast your cares on Him.’ So, I truly didn't hold those burdens. I truly just gave them back to God and allowed Him to take care of them, because I know that He loves each of us in a way that we, no matter how much we think we love each other, we can never love each other like that, and so, for me those scriptures, I just really held firm to… So, I felt like I was sad in the pandemic, but at the same time not depressed… Sad for our nation, for our country, for our world as a whole. But, coming out of it, just recharged… wanting to really continue making a difference and use a little time that we have on earth with the best we have…”
“So, to address the other issue about the vaccination whether you’re Christian or not Christian… That's not the issue, because I truly feel as a Christian that God will protect me. The scripture says that He is not gonna promise us that we're not gonna have trouble. We will have trouble. But what God does promise us is that He will be with us every step of the way during that trouble. So, I have nothing to fear.” Dr. Young shares her perspective as a Christian.
“As a public health professional I would definitely promote getting vaccinations.” Dr. Young states.
She memorializes a cousin who was a frontline worker who lost his life to Covid-19 early in the pandemic in 2020.
