Christianity on the Frontline: Meet the Latter-day Saint Frontliners Risking their Lives to Serve Others

Fear of being infected or bringing the virus home, physical and mental exhaustion, managing anxieties, and staying safe are just a few of the concerns and challenges doctors, nurses and medical professionals experience while providing care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Latter-day Saint healthcare workers throughout the United Kingdom find strength in their Christian faith to face these concerns and care for others during this unprecedented time.

“Life for everyone changed overnight,” said Dr Ros Lucy, a general practitioner in Leighton Buzzard and volunteer at the Friendship Centre for Refugees in Wembley, north west London. She said that the early weeks of COVID-19 were very stressful and as physicians “we had to change and adapt with the ever-changing daily guidelines from the government & health authorities.”

“The change of working from face to face consultation to telephone consultations; constantly listening, trying to pick up cues that would be easy in person but so hard over the phone, worrying ‘was I missing something,?’ was exhausting,” said Dr Lucy.

Dr Lucy is part of a large practice serving 18,000 patients with six other partners. She credits her faith and her colleagues for getting her through this difficult time. In a business meeting with other physicians, it was evident that the practice was struggling to cover the needs of patients. Dr Lucy asked the partners, all from different backgrounds, if she could “say a prayer and petition God” for help through this time. Her partners were supportive and told her, “If it is important to you, it is important to us.”

On two separate occasions, Dr Lucy was able to share her faith and beliefs when “a colleague looked me in the eye and said, ‘Ros, should we be worried?’’’ She mentioned to her co-worker that many Latter-day Saint teachings had assisted in preparing for the pandemic, as we follow a prophet of God. There was spiritual preparation through home-centred church and physical preparedness through food storage, which “has been encouraged for years.”

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