Welcome to our leadership blog series! This month Evelyn Le, NMSA International Chief Financial Officer, and a student at Bastyr University in Kenmore, Washington, shares 3 stories from her classmates and how they’ve been effected by the pandemic.
Resiliency during the pandemic: true stories told by three naturopathic students
Names have been changed to protect the anonymity of the students involved.
Emma: Oh shoot! The clinic will close for the entire quarter to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and we’ll have to wait for further notice from the public health authorities.Donna: OMG…What about seeing the patients? We are in our final year now and we have been working so hard to get to this point of being primary student clinicians.Leila: At least I don’t have to travel 2 hours each way back and forth to the clinic from home. But does that mean we are going to do the clinic virtually? Ahhhh… Can anyone train my 50-year-old brain to use zoom? I have not even figured out Epic yet.
Emma: [crying] Why can’t I have another baby? What wrong with me? The OBGYN said I have to keep waiting for a miscarriage to be over. I’m in my forties. My eggs ….. not good anymore.
Leila: Ladies, my husband had a stroke and was in the ICU for 2 weeks. He was not able to remember much and didn’t even know that COVID was happening. Whenever my kids visited him, they had to stay outside the glass door and screamed to get his attention. [long sigh] He has been a breadwinner for the family but now I ought to step up and work to provide for my kids while being in school.
Donna: Sisters, I lost my sense of being. I don’t know why the darkness at night feels so good and lonely and the sound of waves from the ocean could cleanse my deep broken heart. Why am I here? Why do I have to continue doing what I am doing?
Evelyn Le

Hi, my name is Evelyn Le. I’m a NMS4 at BUW and 2nd year grad student in the Executive Master of Public Health Program at University of Washington on Seattle campus. I enjoy my time working with patients and learning as much as I can from colleagues, supervisors, and resources in my final year in medical school. It’s my honor to serve the student body as NMSA Chief Financial Officer 2020-2021. I am from Houston, TX. In my free time, I love playing with my cute 1 year-old nephew and walking my sister’s 2 big good-looking dogs in the park when I am with my family.