NORFOLK, Va. — Several local nursing heroes have put themselves right in the middle of one of the nation’s worst COVID-19 hot spots.
Ten Norfolk nurses are answering a critical call in an unusually quiet Big Apple.
“It’s a place where you only see one or two people on the streets,” said nurse Cindy Stokes.
Stokes has almost 30 years of experience as an ICU nurse. She has spent most of her career at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. Two weeks ago she arrived at NYU Winthrop Hospital for orientation. But the hospital needed her to start immediately that same night.
“These patients are extremely sick,” Stokes said. “Everybody in the unit was COVID positive, so we had to gown up.”
She was compelled to help after talking with fellow Norfolk General ICU nurse Deja Hunt.
“You truly feel like you are in a place where they need you so much,” Hunt said.
Hunt headed to NYC at the start of April. She is caring for patients at Langone Medical Center.
While they work at separate hospitals, both are dealing with units full of COVID patients and wear PPE for their entire 12-hour shift.
“Wearing the mask, you get the battle scars around your nose,” Hunt said. “It is uncomfortable, but necessary for sure.”
Hunt and Stokes said their patients walk a thin line. They said many of them are on ventilators.
“People are sick, people are critical, people are dying,” Hunt said. “We don’t have a lot of supplies, but we do have supplies.”
Their patients can’t see family so both nurses are stepping up. Hunt said nurses at her hospital are putting pictures of a patients' loved ones around their room.
Stokes said nurses in her unit are trying to make PPE seem less overwhelming for patients.
“I took a picture of myself -- a full head to toe -- on the front of my gown,” Stokes said. “So, they know who I am and what I look like. So that offers them comfort and they are not just seeing someone with full gear on.”
The weeks aren’t full of just bad news. Stokes said Wednesday her hospital posted that 1,014 patients have recovered.
“They are so sick it doesn’t look like they are going to walk out,” Hunt said. “But, seeing that it does happen is just remarkable.”
Hunt’s father was recently diagnosed with COVID-19. She said he is in quarantine in New Jersey and is getting better. But she hopes Virginians continue to take the pandemic seriously.
“I do think it is going to increase a bit and hopefully people follow the instructions they are given,” Hunt said.
The days are exhausting and chaotic, but both heroes said it’s an eye-opening experience.
“The reason why I took the assignment is because I felt it was God’s calling,” Stokes said.
Both nurses are working contracts that end in June.