Amanda Rhoney
BY NICOLE PELLETIERE, GMA
(GREENSBORO, NC) – A health care worker who lost everything in a fire thanks her hospital colleagues for helping her family through these difficult times.
Amanda Rhoney, a nursing assistant and secretary in the emergency room at Wesley Long Hospital in Greensboro, North Carolina, was working on the evening of January 24th when her 10-year-old daughter Gentry called her with devastating news.
“All I could hear on the other line was her screaming that the house was on fire,” Rhoney told Good Morning America. “She kept saying, ‘He’s trapped there.’ She was talking about one of the dogs my husband wanted to get out. My mind went to the worst place and thought my husband was trapped. “
Rhoney said her husband Michael, a military veteran, was having dinner for himself, Gentry and son Mychal, 6, on the grill when the propane tank apparently caught fire and their home went up in flames.
No one was injured in the fire, although one of the family’s two dogs passed out from inhaling smoke. The husky recovered after Thomasville Fire and Rescue oxygenated the pup, Rhoney said.
“This happy puppy will see another day thanks to the quick work of our firefighters during a structural fire tonight,” the fire brigade wrote in a Facebook post about Rhoney’s dog.
Rhoney said everything was lost in the flame, including household items, school supplies and clothing. She and her family are now staying in a hotel.
Rhoney posted an update for her affected colleagues on a private Facebook group, and Joy Ingram, a paramedic, stepped in.
Ingram, who has worked with Rhoney for about a decade, told GMA that she was on the same shift with Rhoney when the call came about the house fire.
“In the middle of a pandemic, this girl worked so hard and she actually had and recovered from COVID. … Then [to] If their house was completely destroyed, I would run out of heart, ”Ingram said. “All hearts went out.”
Ingram started fundraising through GoFundMe asking people to drop clothes or household items in the hospital emergency room.
“You start over,” said Ingram. “Amanda will give you the shirt off her back. She will do whatever she can for you and if she can’t she will find someone who can. She herself has a giving heart and as an employee she is simply phenomenal. “
Rhoney said the generosity of her hospital family and community has been positively overwhelming.
“It’s definitely a lot easier to work with,” she added. “Just a big thank you to everyone who donated and called to check on us.”
The Rhoneys also expect help from Off-Road Outreach – an organization founded to help displaced veterans like Michael Rhoney and his family.
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
