This winter, Falmouth High School graduate Mariah E. Spinola, 25, became the first person in her family to earn a college degree. A series of deaths in the family and
U.S Navy registered nurse and Georgia native, McDonald was one of the 139 Navy personnel deployed to Jacksonville, Florida, in early March to distribute and provide vaccines at the state-run, federally-supported Community Vaccination Center. To hear her life story is to understand why she joined the U.S. Navy and volunteered to help community members fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
Early on in her life, McDonald met a nurse at the nursing home where her great grandmother lived. “I met this wonderful lady named Earnestine Anderson who treated my great grandmother with dignity and respect,” recalled McDonald. “I told my mother I wanted to grow up to be like Ms. Anderson.”