Brittney has finished her last week and left the city yesterday. She is in good spirits and has returned to Peoria Illinois. Now she will be in her first week of quarantine, Tammy is starting her second, and Carrie should be finishing her last. They are all safe and sound.

Brittney had the fortune to be in the same unit every day and a team spirit was formed. I believe that is so important in anything we do. Its a team effort. Patient counts are now slowing down but plenty still their. The other 4 Nurses from Peoria OSF are probably in their 2nd week although Tammy hasn’t talked with them since they spent their day together. These girls have given so much of themselves along with all the medical personnel that came from all over the country. NYC has certainly welcomed them and been so good to them.

Their appreciation has been shown all over the city. The city marquis were full of messages of appreciation.

The NYFD and NYPD continually showed their appreciation.

The Navy Blue Angels and Airforce Thunderbirds on April 28 2020, flying over Manhattan and the Empire State Building. They flew over New Jersey, New York City and Long Island in a salute to Healthcare workers during the COVID-19 crisis.

The Lincoln Hospital where Tammy and Brittney were is still full of Krucial Staffing Nurses. Many of them have finished their contracts, and many of them have resigned for more time. From what I was reading, it I believe they will have new work schedules that will be more beneficial for the Medical staff. They will have days off every week. It will be more like a real job. According to Tammy’s team leader, Krucial Agency holds 90 Percent of the contracted nurses at Lincoln Hospital. Their are other agency’s but they are the biggest. They will be their quite awhile yet. They expect cases to pick up when the city starts to reopen. So many of the regular staff has caught the virus. They have gotten sick, some died, some quite their jobs due to stress and exhaustion. The healthcare system will need to bring in and train many new nurses.

In researching the hospitals of New York City, I found their are 62 Acute Care Hospitals. They are located in the 5 boroughs, ….The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhatten, Queens, and Staten Island. I found these charts..…The Orange are locations being prepared for a surge in Patients…..Blue are Hospitals….The USNS Comfort Navy Hospital ship ended up only treating 182 patients. It was docked for 31 days in the harbor. The Javit’s Center closed friday after treating almost 1,100 patients. It opened in late March, operated by the US Army.

When you look at Lincoln Hospital, the figures are overwhelming. They are a 362 bed hospital, but 525 more beds were added. How on earth could the staff take care of patients when they more than doubled in size. Tammy did say they were everywhere. Even in the halls. I believe she said Occ Health had been crammed with 40 beds. The hospital had become total Covid Care.

Governor Cuomo, had requested the US Army Corps of Engineers build at least 4 field hospitals, which included Javits Center…..The other 3 will remain in place in case there’s a second wave of Covid-19. New York City has taken such a hit. It has brought the city to its knees. How can people be protesting about their rights and freedoms. They want to take their kids out to the store. They don’t want to wear the masks. Look at all these sick and dying people. New York City was caught off guard. I know that the economy is destroyed and people are out of work, but what is more important….Life and family…or…Money… Their has to be a medium to where we can return to our life style. But it will never be the same. Not until a Vaccine is found…..or if..

Krucial Staffing took on a Huge task. They are from the Kansas City area. They are a Specialty Disaster Staffing Agency that FEMA uses for Hurricanes and Tornadoes. They never expected a Pandemic. They received a call from the office of the Mayor of NYC in March. Their Emergency Center Quadrupled in 10 days across 5 different buildings. They had to quickly set up Logistical Teams, Incident Management Teams. In NYC they had to set up Hotels, with a team in each hotel for incoming nurses. They did all the paperwork, assignments, etc. for each incoming medical hire. Each hospital communicated their needs to get their personnel. They needed buses for transportation to each hospital with a team lead on board for each hospital. Back at the office Krucial had to send out the call for nurses. The switchboard had to answer thousands of calls and hire on the spot after collecting all the legal info. During this time, any state license was accepted. No one needed an actual NY license. Last I knew their was over 4,000 nurses hired for the 21 day contract. They were hired in waves of 500 to 1000. By the end of March the help began to arrive. They were housed in many of the hotels across the city. It was a huge undertaking. They also called up medical people for New Orleans. So KUDO’S to Krucial Staffing Agency. I know it didn’t go off without problems, but considering the time element and the needs of NEW YORK CITY, they did amazing.

So for now, we still do our best to co-operate with the authorities. Cameron County is still climbing slowly. Yesterday we had 11 more raising our count to 432 cases and 18 deaths. Our Shelter in Place ruling as well as face masks have expired on April 30. It is recommended to still use them. Retail business’s and restaurants are now opening with only 25 percent of capacity allowed. Beaches are also opened but we must still use Social Distancing. So are we opening to soon????…..Time will tell. The governor will evaluate in 2 weeks. In Illinois, they still have Shelter in Place and face masks. Cook County is still climbing. Down state in our little Putnam County, it is still Coronavirus Free…..The best news is

Tammy Was Tested……She is Covid-19 FREE…….

But she still is Quarantined for 2 weeks……

Thank You to the Girls, and Thank You to all the Staff that answers the call. They have put their life on the line. They didn’t have to do this, but they go anyway. It is like going to war and fighting the front line. They leave their families and put their lives on hold, not knowing where or the circumstances they will work in. It has be exhausting, so mentally depressing, and so many other adjectives. They have witnessed and done things they never thought possible. Many things were done that were not Ethical, but they had no choice due to equipment shortages and PPE. They have now changed inside. I’m sure they will look at things differently now. They need this time to decompress…….