Nurses from Northwell Health have heeded Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s call for New York’s health care workers to provide aid to areas throughout the nation that are seeing an uptick in coronavirus cases.
Last Monday, nurses Kristine Chan, Anjanette Rosario, Shiney Paul, and Timothy Verhey from Northwell’s North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset and Lauren Ann Henry from Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park traveled to Houston, Texas to extend a helping hand.
“We came down here together as a team,” Paul said. “Back in New York, we were hit very hard by COVID-19 at the beginning. We felt it was our time to give back to the communities that are going through this now. It’s been an honor to work with Gov. Cuomo’s team and my co-workers.”
Cuomo announced on June 16 that New York state established two church testing sites in Houston. The locations, Cuomo said, were in “highly-impacted minority communities” and have the capacity for conducting up to 1,000 tests per day.
“When New York went through the unprecedented challenge and unimaginable tragedy of COVID-19’s apex in the state, states throughout the country provided supplies, ventilators and personnel during our time of greatest need,” Cuomo said. “Now that New York’s numbers have stabilized, we’re returning the favor across the country, and I am glad to be able to help the great city of Houston establish two testing sites in vulnerable communities.”
An initial 20 healthcare workers and public health experts were sent down to Houston to facilitate and oversee the operation before the five nurses took their talents and expertise to a state that has seen one of the most drastic upticks in confirmed cases over the past month.
“When Gov. Cuomo asked if we could lend support to other states, we were proud that Northwell stepped up to get involved,” Northwell’s Project Manager for Emergency Deployment Andrew Roberts said “These five people left their homes, their families, and their friends…we are so grateful to them and so proud.”
“It takes a unified front, which is why we are happy to work with the governor again to pay it forward and send our clinicians to assist in Georgia and Houston,” Northwell CEO Michael Dowling said. “We hope our first-hand experience with this novel virus can help limit the ongoing spread of COVID-19.”
According to a release sent out by Northwell last week, the five nurses were in “unanimous agreement” that extended their efforts and expertise to Houston was the “Northwell way” and each nurse said it was a “no-brainer” to volunteer for the assignment.
Roberts said the five nurses are using their experience dealing with the hardest-hit state throughout the pandemic to teach Houston officials proper methods to prevent a further spread of the virus.
“Most importantly, they are providing education about the importance of wearing masks, quarantining if symptomatic or testing positive, proper hand hygiene and maintaining social distancing,” Roberts said.
