Riley nurses come to aid of fellow nurse following loss of home to fire

INDIANAPOLIS — Friends, coworkers, and nurses throughout the state have come together to support one of their own in a time of need.

Jacob “Jake” Harmon is a nurse at Riley Children’s Hospital. In December, Harmon lost most of his belongings and his Broad Ripple home in a fire.

“Jake is such a humble person and never asks for help,” Darby Burns, a fellow nurse at Riley said.

Following the fire, Harmon did something that many would not consider doing during tragedy – he went back to work.

“I was able to call a friend in the city and asked if I could stay with them,” Harmon said. “All of my family is in northern Indiana, where I am from, so I didn’t have much of an option. Then the next day I went back to work. I didn’t know what else to do. It was a way to de-stress and distract myself.”

Burns said it took the staff noticing an injury to find out what happened to Harmon.

“He actually had blisters on his hands from pushing his car,” Burns said. “That is how we knew (about the fire). He is such a selfless person – the kind you only meet once in a lifetime. We knew we had to do something to help.”

The nurses at Riley in the stem cell transplant unit have joined together to raise money for Harmon.

WRTV is highlighting the work and camaraderie shared among nurses in celebration of National Nurses Week which runs May 6-12.