Carolina Strong: Mom and daughter join mobile healthcare team helping Helene victims

CHARLOTTE — Atrium Health nurse Dawn Middleton takes pride in her work at Carolinas Medical Center, so she offered to take her skills on the road.

Middleton is now part of Atrium’s MED-1 Mobile Hospital Unit, which is being deployed to help residents in North Carolina after the devastation of Hurricane Helene. While it’s a mobile unit, Middleton told Channel 9′s Erika Jackson it’s a familiar environment.

“When you look at our processes that we use in the emergency department with triage and seeing patients and discharging patients and follow-up care, it’s very similar,” Middleton said.

She’s been a helping hand for more than 15 years, working on MED-1 at national events and at overrun healthcare systems. She even helped deliver a baby during Hurricane Florence.

Middleton’s daughter, Emma Cruz, told Jackson she grew up watching her mom support their family and her patients.

“When she was little, I would have to explain to her that I was leaving, I would have to explain I’m leaving to go help people,” Middleton said.

“She has two kids, and she raised them all by herself, and she was still able to make the time to go out and serve her community,” Cruz said.

Cruz is following in her mother’s footsteps, working as a healthcare tech at Atrium Health. Last month, she had the opportunity to work alongside her mother when MED-1 deployed to Tryon to help survivors of Hurricane Helene.

“It is such a privilege to be able to serve the community when it’s needed during natural disasters,” Cruz told Jackson.

Middleton said her daughter was impressive in action.

“I couldn’t have been more proud. She jumped right in, she did some hard work,” Middleton said.

Cruz says she still has a lot to learn as she continues her schooling to become a doctor. But she says she had a good teacher who prepared her with the most important lesson.

“If you get an opportunity to go out and help serve your community in any way, just take it,” Cruz said. “It’s so rewarding.”

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