FLORENCE, S.C. (WBTW) – Over a hundred MUSC Florence nurses gathered outside of MUSC Florence Wednesday to kneel in honor of George Floyd. The nurses kneeled for 8 minutes and 46 seconds, the same amount of time former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pinned George Floyd to the ground with his knee on his neck.
Robyn Davis, Registered Nurse at MUSC Florence, attended the event Wednesday with her family. Davis says she been in the medical field for 23 years and she’s experienced the difficult reality of racism.
“I had patients who didn’t want me to take care of them because I was a black woman and I still had to care for them and I am grateful that I was able to do that and my family needed to be here because this is reality,” Davis says.
Darlene Fulton, RN & Director of MUSC Florence General Surgery Department, says she was happy to see MUSC step up in support of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement.
“It means a tremendous amount to have their backing and support and opening opportunities for us all to share not just this event but many others.”
Davis says as a nurse she has shed many tears dealing with the lives lost from the coronavirus pandemic and now even more tears fall for George Floyd and other lives lost at the hands of police officers.
“We have to now teach our sons about how to handle themselves when in public and if you get stopped by a police officer and he’s only 10 years old but we have to explain to him how to live strategically versus just living life,” Davis says.