The Outstanding MRC Responder Recognition

Elizabeth (Beth) Hughes answered the call to serve. Due to the devastation left in the wake of Hurricane Helene in Southwest Virginia in September 2024, a statewide alert was sent out for volunteer nurses to support emergency shelters. Beth responded immediately and was the first statewide volunteer to deploy, traveling 348 miles to Galex, VA to spend her first night in an emergency shelter. Although the shelter closed shortly thereafter, she stayed on to help with mobile tetanus clinics, showing grace and flexibility as the mission changed. Beth volunteers through the statewide Virginia MRC Behavioral Health Team (VA) and utilized her mental health first aid training to help the many people she encountered during that deployment, including hotel workers, public health staff, and first responders. Dispensing over 50 tetanus vaccines and putting in over 100 hours during this deployment alone, Beth has demonstrated that she is an outstanding MRC Responder.