LUBBOCK, Texas — Lubbock nurses are back in the Hub City after spending nearly six weeks away from home to help treat patients with coronavirus in New York City. To keep folks updated and spread awareness, Taylor Hutcheson and two of her coworkers started a Facebook group called ‘LBK to NYC Nurses.’
Hutcheson said her trip to New York was an unimaginable experience.
“It’s so surreal to see how empty it is and then like the unit itself was a makeshift unit and it was like a warzone,” Hutcheson said.
Hutcheson said she felt she needed to volunteer to help, feeling as though it was her calling.
“It’s my passion that I needed to go and help and do something,” Hutcheson said.
Hutcheson and her coworkers were the only three people on their flight from Lubbock to Dallas, and were given “Thank You” cards and applauded on their plane to New York. She said New York was empty.
“We were in the middle of Times Square. We were staying at the Marriott Marquis hotel and it was empty. And you’re like no one will ever experience this,” Hutcheson said.
The nurse said it took several days for them to get their assignments, and although Hutcheson didn’t have much ICU experience working with adults, she worked in the children’s ICU, still doing what she could. She said she was working with people who had even less experience, such as psychiatrists and dentists. Her team was also working out of a makeshift unit.
“Constantly looking for supplies, half the time you don’t have what you need. You have to get creative and have to figure out how to make it work,” Hutcheson said.
Not long after arriving to New York, she went online and decided to put together the ‘LBK to NYC Nurses’ Facebook group, documenting her experiences.
“When I got there I was like… people need to be aware of how serious it can get,” Hutcheson said. “Like, I understand like I was at a public hospital. The population was very dense. But it can get really bad and people just don’t seem to understand that and they take it for granted.”
The group gained more than 1,000 members and played a part in pushing the nurses forward.
“All the outcomes were pretty poor. I think I saw one patient come off the unit and that was after I left,” Hutcheson said.
Hutcheson said she is glad to be back home with her family, however the adjustment has been difficult for her. She added that while patients may recover from the coronavirus, they still leave the hospital with other issues.
Still, Hutcheson said she is glad she did what she could to help.
“It was really hard to leave my nine-month-old son, but I know whenever he grows up he’s going to look back and be so proud of his mom,” Hutcheson said.
To view the Facebook group page, click here.
