Sarah Higgins, a dermatology nurse, arrived in late March and was assigned to the hard-hit Elmhurst Hospital in Queens. These are her words.
Sarah Higgins is a nurse practitioner who has worked for years at a dermatology practice in Dallas. Because the practice performed elective procedures — skin rejuvenation, laser tattoo removal — it was suspended amid the COVID-19 crisis. Higgins, 34, soon raised her hand to come to New York City as a reinforcement for an overwhelmed health care workforce. She arrived in late March and was assigned to Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, one of the hardest-hit medical centers in one of the city’s hardest-hit boroughs. On March 25, The New York Times reported that Elmhurst had seen 13 COVID-19 deaths in a single day, in what workers there called an “apocalyptic” surge of patients. Higgins turned up for duty the next day and worked the next 11 days straight, pulling 12-hour shifts in the intake section of the hospital’s emergency department.
Day One
My first day in the emergency department was unlike anything I had ever witnessed. It was a mix of a television show like Grey’s Anatomy and something out of a triage tent in a war movie.
I hadn’t worked in a hospital for six years, and I was shocked. But I think nursing instinct and adrenaline kicked in, and I just started doing anything I could. I was paired up with a nurse and I started hanging IV bags, passing out medication, drawing blood, checking oxygen levels. My eyes must have shown my shock because a few days later, one of the physician assistants said he was glad to still see me. Based on the look in my eyes the first day, it seems, he didn’t know if I’d stay around…
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