Stories of Remarkable Care

A decade before the COVID-19 crisis, Alex Funderburg, chair of the board for the Novant Health Presbyterian Medical Center Foundation, found himself on the front lines of a different and much more personal healthcare battle.

His name was Luke, but more often than not, his family didn’t call him that. The 1-year-old boy with the infectious smile and joyful personality was better known as “sweet baby Luke.”

It sounded like a burglar alarm.
Cindy Little was at her former church in Charleston, South Carolina, when she heard it. She wasn’t sure where it was coming from, but she knew something was up.

The patient couldn’t breathe. He had come into the emergency room still able to speak. Then, all of a sudden, he was slipping in and out of consciousness. It all felt like a dream. But somewhere in that dream, he knew Amanda Chilton would do whatever it took to save him.

Debbie Daniels has been part of Novant Health since she was 16 years old. She started in accounts payable. Her mom worked in that department and helped get Daniels a part-time job that she kept through high school and as she went off to college at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

The COVID-19 pandemic may have taken the world by storm in 2020, but Heather Ridge has been preparing for this moment her entire career.

When you ask Rob Stumbo about the most poignant moment in his nursing career, he takes you back to 2018.

Since the global pandemic took hold in the U.S., there has been an outpouring of support for front-line healthcare workers. People have purchased pizzas for hospital staffers. They’ve made face masks by hand. They’ve written messages of gratitude and hope in sidewalk chalk.