A DEDICATED nurse who came back to Rugby from France so she could serve on the front line in the fight against coronavirus has thanked a car dealership for coming to her rescue when she was left without a mode of transport.
Debbie Bolton decided to return to the UK to help out with the Covid-19 crisis after moving across the channel two years ago with partner Mike Burton.
Lined up to work in critical care at University Hospital Coventry (UHC), she was facing huge rental bills when the car she ordered from Allen Ford in Rugby was delayed after the outbreak began.
But she was touched when a kindly member of staff at the dealership gave her a courtesty car for as long as she needed it, so she could get on with saving lives.
She said: “It absolutely restored my faith in human nature.
“A member of staff at Allen Ford whose wife is a nurse made the gesture completely out of the blue, and I’m just thrilled.
“I’ve got a nice little Fiesta for as long as I need it, until my car arrives.”
Debbie and Mike moved to the south of France in 2018 to pursue their dream of opening a holiday home – even appearing on the recent series of Channel 4 show A New Life in the Sun earlier this year.
Debbie and partner Mike were featured on the recent series of Channel 4 show A New Life in the Sun earlier this year.
But during that time, Debbie would spend one week every month staying at her daughter’s home in Rugby so she could work at UHC’s obstetrics operating theatre.
“The area has been my home for well over 20 years,” she said. “I’ve had links with UHC for a long time, and it felt right to continue to use my skills to best effect while we were in France.”
Now she has decided to stay here for the duration and work in critical care.
“It would be wrong to say that I don’t have misgivings because I do,” she said.
“I have a skill-set. I’m an advanced practitioner and it seems right to be able to use those skills.
“I do have concerns, but I’m ex-military, I’m used to wearing a respirator and an protective suit and carrying on working.
“It’s that can-do attitude that helps to get people through. If I can inspire anybody then that’s fine.”
Her dedication has already been rewarded with the weekly nationwide round of applause for NHS staff.
She said: “It is just awesome and so moving.
“It’s not just the health service, its all of the support services and everybody who is keeping things going – the bin collectors, the delivery drivers, supermarkets, takeaways – everybody needs to have that recognition.
“The people who are keeping the economy ticking over and the country going are the people who are the lowest-paid.
“But it is what it is, and we just get on and do it.”
