By Hannah Moroney
Rayna Moore was getting a pedicure one afternoon at a local nail salon when her cousin came in. Moore’s cousin noticed her shoes and told her how much she admired them. Instead of simply thanking her, Moore picked up her shoes and gave them to her cousin, without a second thought. When her pedicure was done, she slipped on the disposable foam pedicure slippers given out at salons and went home without the shoes she had come in with.
Moore worked as a Respiratory Therapist for approximately 13 years. Her generous heart and her bright pearly smile could make anyone feel better. She treated a countless number of patients over the 13-year span and whenever she walked into a hospital room her patients became her friends. Moore worked mainly with cystic fibrosis patients during her time as a respiratory therapist at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital. She watched many of her CF patients grow up and her mother said she cared for them as if they were her own children.
When COVID-19 reached Pontotoc, Miss., Moore told her supervisor, Paula Newell, that she was scared. Newell recommended that Moore get a doctor's excuse and take a leave of absence to avoid daily exposure. However, Rayna quickly told Newell that she could not go home and leave her coworkers on the frontlines alone. Moore did not cower or remain in the safety of her home. She ran to the frontlines, even though she knew she was risking her health and her life. Even if she was fearful of what could happen, she still chose to be on the frontlines and assist her coworkers and save patients.
Lajoy Moore, Rayna Moore’s mother, said she spoke with her daughter about the risks of her contracting COVID-19 and Moore told her mother, “Mama, there's nobody else that can go, and they’ve got to have help.”
Moore was 42 years old when she died on September 11, 2020. She courageously worked on the frontlines treating COVID patients until she contracted COVID-19 herself. After battling with COVID-19 for several weeks Moore was admitted into North Mississippi Medical Center, Tupelo, where she later died due to COVID-related complications.
A giving person
Moore loved the water. During her childhood her family made frequent visits to the lake where she and her sisters would ride on the inner tubes and wave runners. The love of water carried over into Moore’s adult life. She would plan three to four beach trips a year. She even considered moving to Florida but decided she did not want to be that far from her family.
Moore was a graduate of Pontotoc High School and Itawamba Community College. She also did coursework at the University of Mississippi. She began college as an accounting major but changed her major several times before deciding to pursue respiratory therapy. According to Lajoy Moore, there was no definite reason why Moore decided to go into the healthcare field. Respiratory therapy was something she had an interest in, possibly because she had asthma, and she fell in love with the job.
Moore was a humble giver in every possible aspect of her life. While at work she was known for checking in on patients she had got to know, even if they did not need, her medical assistance. She would ask them if they needed any food or medicine, even if they were not her patients at the time.
Shoes were Moore’s love language. She loved all types of shoes; she was not biased when it came to shoe style. Outside of the hospital you could probably find Moore shopping for shoes, possibly for herself, or her nieces and nephews, or someone she thought might need a new pair of shoes. Kayla Moore Russel, Moore’s sister, said she would buy shoes for everyone.
“I'm pretty sure she had purchased a pair of shoes for at least 70% of Pontotoc. She would buy everyone's kids some and she might even give you the pair she was wearing,” Russel said.
A Mississippi H.E.R.O.
In 2021, Moore was nominated for the H.E.R.O award. H.E.R.O is an acronym for "how everyone should reach out." The H.E.R.O. Award is presented to someone from the Pontotoc community that goes beyond the normal routines to offer assistance to others. Moore was selected for the award in 2021, after her death. Moore’s family was given the award in her memory.
“I think she would be very proud, and I think she would cry because I don’t think she realized how many people’s lives she did touch. She was just being herself and she didn’t make a show of it,” Russel said.
Several of her coworkers wrote to the nomination committee to offer some kind words about Moore:
“Rayna inspired us all with her knowledge and her strength. But more importantly, she made everyone feel loved, patients and friends alike. For the lives that she has saved and the lives that she has changed, she will forever be my hero.”
“One of the best descriptions I ever heard of Rayna was hard-headed and soft-hearted. Rayna loved fiercely.”
“Rayna was jolly and funny, and you couldn’t help but love her.”
A family friend of the Moore’s, Janie Ruth Owens, said that Moore was so giving and compassionate that she offered her kidney to Owens' brother.
Several years ago, Owens' brother was put on the waiting list for a kidney transplant. Without hesitation Moore called Owens and said that if she was a match, she would donate her kidney to Owens' brother. Owens cried while she told Moore that she would relay the offer to her brother, but she doubted that he would accept Moore’s generosity.
“In typical Rayna style she told me, ‘I don’t know why you're crying I’ve got two you know,’” Owens said.
Owens said that she knew Moore’s offer was sincere and honest, but her brother did not accept Moore’s generosity because it was simply too much.
The descriptions of Moore and the description of a hero are synonymous. She was a hero to her family, and she was a hero to her patients. Although Moore would probably say her patients are the real heroes.
