Team Members Fundraise for Local Teen

AdventHealth Nurse Practitioner Amanda Allen has been with AdventHealth Family Medicine Clinic for over 25 years and says working there is like an extension of her family. “I'm very thankful that they've helped me provide for my family,” Allen says. “They've given me stability. I mean, it's been life changing.” It’s a feeling Allen’s 15-year-old daughter Meredith has also felt for her entire life, and that feeling compels her to strive for a career in medicine. “I feel like if my mom worked anywhere other than AdventHealth, I probably wouldn't want to be a doctor,” Meredith says. “I’ve seen every little thing; like how much she cares for people, how much her coworkers support her and are always there for her. That’s what makes me want to do the same.”

Meredith followed mom’s footsteps this year by entering in the Miss Spring Ho Festival Beauty Pageant, where as a teen, Allen was a 1st runner-up. Meredith says she didn’t think she would win but felt the experience would help her open up and lose some of her shyness, which happened to her during the preparation process. “You have to practice walking and talking. I would practice a little bit everywhere I’d go. I’d make a point to talk to at least one person I didn't know, and it made me open up more.”

On pageant day, she was still convinced she wouldn’t win; however, the judges announced the runners-up, finally calling her name out as the 2022 Miss Spring Ho winner. “At the moment, it kind of felt like a dream and I was like, ‘Did this really happen?’” Meredith says. “The first thing I wanted to do was just like, Go and hug my sister and my mom was like, ‘I told you so!’” Meredith and Amanda both adding that the support from team members at AdventHealth is what made it happen and Meredith adding, “I couldn't have done it without all of them.”