Allegood thanks School of Education co-workers for going above and beyond
Last fall, Jackie Allegood, certification analyst in the School of Educations Office of Teacher Licensure, fell down the stairs at her home and broke her right ankle in three places. The break required surgery, placing a screw on the left side of her foot and a plate and pins on the right side. During the six days she spent in the hospital, she realized she wouldnt be able to stand on her own for a long time. Thanks to the generosity of her co-workers, she had plenty of people to lean on.I could not have asked for a more loving group of co-workers, Allegood says. Last fall, Jackie Allegood, certification analyst in the School of Education's Office of Teacher Licensure, fell down the stairs at her home and broke her right ankle in three places. The break required surgery, placing a screw on the left side of her foot and a plate and pins on the right side. During the six days she spent in the hospital, she realized she wouldn't be able to stand on her own for a long time. Thanks to the generosity of her co-workers, she had plenty of people to lean on.
鈥淚 could not have asked for a more loving group of co-workers,鈥 Allegood says.
鈥淭hey sent me flowers, visited me, got money together and went grocery shopping for my daughter, who had to help me while working full time herself and taking care of her daughter.鈥
As Allegood progressed from hopping on one foot with a walker to using a crutch and now walking with her injured foot in a boot, her co-workers Mary Kay Feinberg, licensure officer, and Christa Beckner, coordinator of the Learning Resource Center, gave her rides to and from work when she returned part time. 鈥淚 was not able to walk upstairs, so had to crawl backwards inside my house for a little while,鈥 says Allegood. 鈥淲e had fun times getting me inside.鈥
Feinberg and Beckner also walked Allegood's puppy and made sure she 鈥渨as in bed and out of harm's way鈥 before they left. 鈥淢ary Kay even got her mother's wheelchair to pick me up and take me inside the building,鈥 says Allegood. 鈥淭rying to get in with a walker was not a lot of fun. She would take me back outside for someone to pick me up after work.鈥
In addition, Allegood says co-workers and student workers helped her make it to and from the restroom until the doors could be fixed in the building. 鈥淚 could not open and close them with the walker and only one leg functioning,鈥 she says.
Allegood, who has been with the School of Education for 10 years, says, 鈥淚 could not have asked for a more loving group of co-workers. I have been through some hard times during the period I have been with them, and they rallied and helped me out. Not everyone can say they work with a fine bunch of people, but I can say I do. When Dr. Sutton Flynt was dean of the College of Education, and I finally graduated after 18 years of struggling to get a bachelor's degree, he met me at the end of runway with a dozen red roses.
鈥淚 truly cannot say enough about our people.鈥
鈥擱ebecca Mackey