By Megan Sayles
AFRO Business Writer
msayles@afro.com
Loved ones of Nordstrom employee Felicia Lee Ray-Jenkins are demanding action after the 54-year-old died at a California distribution center on Nov. 7.
Family members of Ray-Jenkins assert that her co-workers and supervisors left her lying on the ground without dialing 911 or attempting to administer any life-saving care. When paramedics arrived, Ray-Jenkins was dead.
Credit: Photo courtesy of Meta (Facebook)
“My Auntie Felicia Lee Ray-Jenkins went to work at the Nordstrom distribution center in Riverside, Calif. She clocked in then collapsed and hit her head in line before she reached the metal detectors. They left her laying on the floor for over 20 minutes without administering any life saving measures with a defibrillator close by. Administering No CPR either. 911 wasn’t called for 20 minutes,” alleges her niece, Alana Makayla, in a Nov. 10 Facebook post. “They had her coworkers clock in and walk around and over her to the metal detector instead of clearing the area and attempting to help her. When the ambulance finally arrived, she had no pulse. Nordstrom management staff did nothing to save her life.”
Alana Makayla said that she and her family members are struggling with the alleged decision to not render aid to their family member.
“Our family is in shock and attempting to wrap our minds around how Nordstrom can treat our loved one like this. We’ve been contacted by multiple of her coworkers that are outraged with the lack of empathy and medical support my auntie received,” she said in her social media post. “My auntie was a hard working and dedicated employee at Nordstrom in Riverside, Ca for over 10 years. She went above and beyond for that company and they treated her like she was trash.”
A spokesperson for Nordstrom maintained that all emergency response protocols were followed during the incident. They also said that associates at the center called for emergency services promptly and cared for Ray-Jenkins until paramedics arrived.
“This was a tragic incident, and we are shocked by the sudden loss of our valued team member, Felicia Lee Ray-Jenkins,” said a Nordstrom spokesperson in a statement provided to the AFRO. “As we have expressed to her husband, our thoughts and deepest sympathies are with her family and loved ones.”
According to the family, some employees have reached out to express their contempt for the handling of the situation.
“We’ve been contacted by multiple of her coworkers that are outraged with the lack of empathy and medical support my auntie received,” wrote her niece, who thinks those who refused to help her aunt should be punished.
“Everybody on that management staff involved deserves to receive disciplinary actions or lose their job for their mistakes and negligence,” she said.
The case of Ray-Jenkins’ death is eerily similar to the February 2024 death of Kaleiah Jones, a Black teenager who died after collapsing at her school in Newport News, Va. The teen had a heart condition. Still, even with a school nurse and a resource officer on the scene, none of the automatic defibrillator machines installed were used in attempts to save Kaleiah’s life.
According to reporting from Word in Black, students called 911 for help, but “10 minutes later, Kaleiah was still unconscious on the floor as the adults around her couldn’t figure out what to do. No one — not the nurse, nor the resource officer, nor the principal — had checked her pulse. No one had retrieved the defibrillator machines. The officer tried to perform CPR, but stopped after less than 20 seconds.”
Paramedics arrived and tried to do CPR, but the 16-year-old student died roughly an hour later.
Kaleiah’s family has filed a lawsuit.
Now, yet another Black woman has suffered a medical emergency in public, with no one coming to her aid.
Family members of Ray- Jenkins say change is necessary.
They are calling for Nordstrom to “reevaluate” their “medical emergency protocols and make sure their employees have proper medical emergency training.”
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