Dairy Month is a time to celebrate all things dairy, including dairy heroes in our community both on and off the farm.
Cottonwood Dairy continues to be there for the community from the farmland and the front lines. In addition to keeping the family dairy running and producing milk for the community, Rayanne Sorensen is also a nurse caring for the community now and all year-round.
Rayanne is a Labor and Delivery nurse at Banner Churchill Community Hospital in Fallon, Nevada and over the past few months, things have looked a little different. Due to COVID-19, Banner Churchill Community Hospital has been taking extra precautions to keep both its patients and employees safe. They are screening all individuals including employees, patients, and visitors for COVID-19 symptoms and taking their temperature before entering the facility. The hospital is just now allowing one visitor per patient per day on the inpatient floor. All staff and visitors must wear a face mask. In Labor and Delivery, mothers-to-be have been fortunate during this time to have one support person with them during their hospital stay. The support person does have to wear a mask and has frequent temperature assessments as a precaution. All labor and delivery patients are currently being screened for COVID-19 between 37 weeks and 38 weeks gestation. If a mother is COVID-19 positive or unknown, special precautions are taken to protect her baby and hospital staff. All of these extra precautions Rayanne along with the other nurses, doctors, and staff take continue to keep the community safe and healthy for its newest and, arguably cutest, members.
“I feel fortunate to live in a rural community whose citizens have followed the guidelines set forth by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the State of Nevada,” said Rayanne. “This has helped keep the positive cases for COVID-19 low in Churchill County.”
While Rayanne doesn’t work on the farm on a daily basis, she’s been taking extra precautions during this time to keep her family safe and healthy, and in-turn continuing to ensure milk safety.
While there are lots of differences between the medical profession and the dairy industry, one thing is the same: they’ve both continued to work tirelessly to provide for the community.
At Cottonwood Dairy life on the farm has continued as usual. Cows still need to eat and be milked every day. Crops still need to be planted and harvested. Milk still needs to be processed and delivered to stores. The demand has changed with the closures of restaurants and entertainment venues, but the work and processes have remained the same. Everyone on the farm continues to work hard to ensure our community has fresh milk and dairy products.
“As citizens, we each have our own responsibility to keep our community safe and healthy,” said Rayanne and Gavin Sorensen. “Supporting the community means looking out for your neighbors and that’s what we’ll continue to do.”
We are so thankful for Rayanne and Gavin and their dedication to our community. They truly are Dairy heroes, on and off the farm.
