LONDON, ONT -- A front-line nurse had the vehicle she relies on to get to work during the pandemic stolen from her driveway.
“What a crappy thing to do.”
That’s what Judy Ducharme said to herself when she walked out of her north London home Thursday afternoon and realized something was amiss.
“At first I thought ‘is this a joke?’ Then I thought, ‘no it’s not a joke, my car is gone.’”
Cars being stolen from driveways don’t normally make news. In Ducharme’s case it matters, not just to her, but to all of us.
Ducharme is a nurse in the cardiac care unit at the Victoria campus of London Health Sciences Centre.
She goes to work every day during the COVID-19 pandemic, helping to save lives.
At any time she’s prepared for re-deployment into critical care, or even to the field hospital at Western Fair District, once it opens.
She knows this. In fact, she’s all too aware of this.
“There’s a chance that whoever took my car, that I would possibly taking care of them at the hospital in the next few weeks if they get sick,” said Ducharme.
Her trusted Toyota Venza was taken some time during the night. It wasn’t anything special, she said, but it got her to work and home again daily.
“I need to get to work every day. And I know right now they’re having a hard time replacing people,” she said.
At home Ducharme has her hands full, supporting a high school aged son, and a daughter attending university.
Her mom doesn’t need the added stress said daughter Natasha.
“The stress of going in to work and then having to deal with filing the police report, talking to the insurance company, trying to get a new car someone. All this stress, extra, no-one needs ever, but she especially doesn’t need right now,” said Natasha.
Each day she responds to the call of duty Ducharme is well aware she‘s putting herself and her family at risk. However, she believes that right now it’s more important than ever that she be able to get to work.
“Right now we need to be at work more than other people need to be at work. We are all essential workers. You know the grocery store clerks, the nurses, the doctors, police, we need to be there, and they took my only means of transportation to get there.”
For now Ducharme has a rental, but to those would brazenly steal the only transportation of an essential front-line health care worker, she has this to say.
“I just want my car back. So if you could please just please give me back my vehicle so I can get to work and just do what I need to do.”
