Three Florida ASC nurses traveled to New York City to help fight the COVID-19 crisis, according to local outlet WFTX-TV FOX 4.
Five things to know:
1. Cape Coral, Fla.-based Cape Health Surgery Center nurses Gina Willaford, CRNA, Jackie Lemm, CRNA, and Jennifer Concepcion, RN, arrived in New York April 5. The ASC where they're employed is an affiliate of Dallas-based United Surgical Partners International.
2. Ms. Willaford and Ms. Concepcion are providing ICU coverage at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue. Ms. Lemm is working at the NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County emergency room. They're committed to staying for three weeks, but Ms. Willaford plans to stay longer if she's needed.
3. Ms. Willaford decided to head to the front lines after learning hospitals were short-staffed, she told FOX 4. She is relaying what she's learned from New York City physicians, residents and fellows to her colleagues in Florida.
4. Surgery center physicians William Keith, MD, H. Scott Harris, MD, and Bradley Trope, MD, have checked in with the nurses daily and assured them that their jobs are there when they return, according to Ms. Willaford.
5. The nurses will need to quarantine themselves when they return to Florida.