Covid: Barnsley nurse burgled while working 12-hour shift
- Published
image copyrightOtherA nurse has been left "devastated and broken" after her late mother's jewellery was stolen by burglars while she was working a 12-hour shift.
Joanne Birkinshaw returned home from Barnsley Hospital on Saturday night to find a rock had been thrown through a window and her house ransacked.
As well as her mum's jewellery, other items of sentimental value were taken.
The 54-year-old said: "If you gave me a million pounds it can't replace anything that has gone."
image copyrightOtherA nurse in the accident and emergency department, Ms Birkinshaw, of Barnsley, has been working long hours since the start of the pandemic.
The emotional stress of her job has taken its toll and she said when she was confronted with the burglary at her home "it finally broke me".
On top of her nursing shifts, she has regularly been volunteering to work extra hours to help the vaccination effort in the town.
She said: "Last week it snowed and I ran to work - I live three and a half miles away - and there was no other way I could get there.
"Then after I finished giving vaccinations to staff I ran back home."
She added: "I've given so much and now I feel like I've had everything taken away and I'm devastated.
"They have stolen things that are sentimental to me and worth nothing to anyone else."
Ms Birkinshaw, who has been a nurse for 25 years, said she had been "overwhelmed by the kindness of strangers" who had come forward with offers of help.
"I've had people get in touch wanting to sort out the structural damage caused and offers from electricians of putting CCTV in.
"My friends and family have been amazing too and it's so humbling to know that even strangers care."
South Yorkshire Police is investigating and urged anyone with information to get in touch.
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