"I don't feel like a hero. This is is my job" - New York nurses on the frontline of coronavirus crisis

Record ID: 1469260

  • Title: "I don't feel like a hero. This is is my job" - New York nurses on the frontline of coronavirus crisis
  • Date: 13th April 2020
  • Summary: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (APRIL 11, 2020) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) CASSANDRA RIGNEY, NURSE AT MOUNT SINAI, SAYING: "One of the biggest things that freaks me out is going to work in the morning riding the subway. The subway is like, first of all there's not that many people riding the subway like there used to be and it's just filled with homeless people and it's like, oh my God. It's just some subway cars is, just all homeless people in the subway now and I think, you know, if I'm going to a hospital with COVID patients, but I could. It's almost like more of a daring situation riding the subway. Nobody, who's testing them? Who's doing anything with the homeless? I mean, they're not going to go to a doctor if they're experiencing symptoms." (SOUNDBITE) (English) CASSANDRA RIGNEY, NURSE AT MOUNT SINAI, SAYING: "I wish that there was some way to see. I mean, personally I feel like I've already been exposed. I wouldn't be surprised if I had it and just didn't have symptoms and also I'd probably immune, so, I wish there was a way to test us to see if we are because then it would eliminate a lot of things. You know what I mean, like, you can be a little bit more caring or you wouldn't be as afraid to go in a room, or whatever, you know what I mean, it would eliminate a lot of that uncertainty."
  • Embargoed: 27th April 2020 21:36
  • Keywords: COVID-19 Mount Sinai New York coronavirus first responders hospital nurse
  • Location: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • City: NEW YORK, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Health/Medicine
  • Reuters ID: LVA003C9BRRRB
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The pandemic has not only taken over hospitals in New York City and claimed thousands of lives, it has also affected the hearts and minds of nurses who have worked countless hours to help patients through their last journey or to celebrate with those who have survived.
    38-year-old Tamara Louhis became a nurse 5 years ago and for the last year and a half has worked at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Louhis says the devastating part of her job is to see patients die alone.
    "I'm a human being and to see patients in a hospital bed who are dying and their family members are not there, there is noone there to hold their hand, that, that human touch, you know, there is noone there for them, they have to talk to their family members through the phone, like we are right now and for people to say goodbye to their family members like that, I can't never imagine in a million years what that feels like," said Louhis.
    Louhis emigrated to the United States from Haiti at age 7. As a nurse she feels that is part of her job to care for her patients and to be strong for them, but at times she says, emotions fail.
    "The other day, I, there is actually like 3 patients who were about to die, one actually died, but the second patient was slowly transitioning, they took her off the respirator and the doctors were trying to get in contact with her family, they got one of her daughters on the phone with her and of course you know, the patient is dying, so she is not, you know aware of what's going in this realm, in this aspect, but the minute her daughter got on the phone, all I can hear her say is, 'Te quiero mucho mami' (I love you so much honey) and I just, I couldn't help it."
    Cassandra Rigney is an operating room nurse, but when the pandemic hit and she heard about the number of patients arriving to the emergency room at Mount Sinai, she asked to be transferred to the 'floor'.
    "That's what nurses do, I guess, that's our job," she said, on the need to lend a hand where they needed the most.
    More than contracting the virus at the hospital while attending patients, Cassandra says being out there riding the subway is where she feels more vulnerable.
    "One of the biggest things that freaks me out is going to work in the morning riding the subway. The subway is like, first of all is, not that many people riding the subway like there used to be and it's just filled with homeless people and it's like, oh my God. It's just some subway cars is, just all homeless people in the subway now and I think, you know, if I'm going to a hospital with COVID patients, but I could. It's almost like more of a daring situation riding the subway. Nobody, who's testing them? Who's doing anything with the homeless? I mean, they're not going to go to a doctor if they're experiencing symptoms," said Cassandra, a nurse for 4 years and a native of New York.
    Many have called nurses and first responders the unsung heroes of the pandemic, but for Louhis, it's just the job that she signed up for.
    "I don't think of myself as a hero because this is again, this is what I went to school for, this is what I wanted to do. I want to take care of people. I want to make them feel better and to help them out along their journey through life, so, I appreciate it, but I don't feel like a hero."
    (Production: Norma Galeana)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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