Title Page & Abstract
An Interview with Donya Brown
Part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library
Tumultuous 2020 Oral History project
Interview # T20-A-L-2022-38
Donya Brown, certified nursing assistant and nursing student was interviewed on the date listed below as part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library’s Tumultuous 2020 Oral History project.
Interview dates & location:
Date: July 6, 2022
Location: Brown’s Home, Peoria, Illinois
Interview Format: Digital audio
Interviewer: Amanda Riggenbach, Tumultuous 2020 project manager
Total Time: 1:19 / 1.32 hrs.
Accessioned into the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Archives on August 10, 2022.
The interview is archived at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Illinois.
© 2022 Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
Abstract
Donya Brown, Tumultuous 2020, T20-A-L-2022-38
Biographical Information/Overview of Interview: Donya Brown was born in Peoria, Illinois, in 2002. She grew up in Peoria and was raised in a Syrian American household. She was a senior at Richwoods High School when the COVID-19 pandemic began. She was also taking classes at Woodruff Career and Technical Center to become a certified nursing assistant. Throughout her high school years, she worked at Liberty Village, an assisted living facility in Peoria, as a waitress. Though the pandemic made her schooling remote, Brown graduated in May of 2020 with a high school diploma and a CNA certificate. She transitioned into a CNA position at Liberty Village in May. In August of 2020, Brown began nursing school at Bradley University. That autumn she started working for Unity Point Health Care: Proctor Hospital.
Throughout the interview, Brown details her experiences with the pandemic from her perspective as both a high schooler and CNA. She compares the different facilities she worked at and how the pandemic impacted both. She also shares her personal impressions of the pandemic and how they changed over time.
Subject Headings/Key Words: Tumultuous 2020; Tumultuous 2020 oral history; CNA; certified nursing assistant; Richwoods High School; COVID-19 pandemic; high school senior in 2020; Bradley University; Peoria, Illinois; pandemic’s impact on healthcare; pandemic’s impact on assisted living facilities
Notes to the Reader: Readers of the oral history memoir should bear in mind that this is a transcript of the spoken word, and that the interviewer, interviewee and editor sought to preserve the informal, conversational style that is inherent in such historical sources. The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is not responsible for the factual accuracy of the memoir, nor for the views expressed therein. We leave these for the reader to judge.
COPYRIGHT
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