Returned Intermountain caregivers describe New York experience

MURRAY — Intermountain Healthcare caregivers who recently returned from a stint in New York City to assist COVID-19 patients held a press conference late Wednesday morning to describe their experiences working on the front lines of the coronavirus capital of America.

About 100 Intermountain caregivers from across Utah assisted in two New York hospitals for two weeks beginning in mid-April and returned in the past week.

Dr. Paul Krakovitz, Intermountain’s chief medical officer for specialty based care, said the experience gave him "an incredible amount of pride" in the volunteers. He said the volunteers returned home safe and healthy, and have all tested negative for COVID-19 since returning.

He said the experience benefited not only New Yorkers, but Utahns as well.

"Here in Utah, we've gained significantly from our caregivers volunteering to go do this work," Krakovitz said. "The innovation and the creativity that they learned from the hospital systems in New York City will help us significantly in taking care of patients with COVID-19, but they'll also help us in caring for all patients with other diseases. We always learn when we go and do new experiences.

"I would just like to say one more time: Thank you, thank you, thank you to our volunteers who went."

'Incredible bravery'

Krakovitz was followed by four Intermountain caregivers who were among the 100 volunteers. They described scenes of heartbreak, uplift and valiance.

Dr. RJ Bunnell said the caregivers landed in an "eerily quiet" New York City that was grappling with the end of its peak in cases.

"In the midst of all this, we were able to witness some incredible bravery and resilience," Bunnell said. "We saw caregivers that had taken one day off in six weeks. We saw a community and a hospital system that rallied around their doctors, nurses and therapists. Every day when I would walk into the hospital, there were these handmade signs of encouragement, saying 'God bless you,' and other uplifting messages."

In closing, Bunnell said he wanted to "make it clear that we're not dealing with the flu."

"The hospital where I worked has handled flu season year after year with 20 ICU beds," he said. "This year they needed 170. The coronavirus has killed more people in New York City over the last two months than it did in the previous five years of influenza."

'Strongest group of people I've ever seen'

ICU physician Dr. Dixie Harris served in a suburban Long Island hospital that normally carries 14 ICU beds but needed 150 beds at its peak.

"It's like you're expecting 15 people for dinner and you have 100 people show up," Harris said.

She said many hospital staff members had themselves contracted the virus and had to leave work for weeks. She described caregivers who didn't take a day off for weeks at a time, calling them the "strongest group of people I've ever seen."

Though she noted that most COVID-19 patients don't require hospitalization, it can be very serious or even fatal for those who do. "I have a lot of respect for this disease," Harris said. "When you are sick enough to come to the hospital, it can be very cruel. I will highlight the fact that we could not have family members in the ICUs, and so it was also a very lonely disease."

Harris said she received glowing feedback about Intermountain caregivers from the New York hospital staff. She thanked the Intermountain system for allowing them to "go help these people who are our countrymen, and help them in their time of crisis," even as Utah battled its own caseload.

"Thank you, people of Utah, for supporting us."

'Throwing ice cubes at an inferno'

Nurse Whitney Hilton said going to New York was "the experience of a lifetime" — "the most shocking, rewarding, hard experience of my life."

"People ask me why I decided to do this," Hilton said. "To be honest, I've always been in love with New York City. I think ever since 9/11, they've had such a unity there, and this was the same experience. This was us coming there to save them, and the unity was unlike any other you've ever seen in your life."

Hilton quoted a Brooklyn nurse who described working in hospitals during the pandemic as "throwing ice cubes at an inferno." She said it felt like "a modern war."

"Never have I seen patients lined up next to each other, and just the overwhelming feeling that this disease caused. The hospital system was able to adapt literally minute by minute to what was happening in front of our eyes, and that was nothing short of amazing."

She said eventually, she got used to the rows of patients. But "no one can prepare you for the death that you see."

"The amount of death that we saw was incredible," Hilton said. "It was sobering, but the teamwork was amazing."

She called the New York City caregivers "the true heroes in this story" and talked about how thrilling it was to receive a personalized birthday thank-you from pop icon and New York resident Taylor Swift.

Hilton beamed as she held up a framed letter from Swift. "In the words of Taylor Swift, 'Soon it will get better.'"

'We can find ways to smile'

Dr. Harland Hayes described the experience of having to unexpectedly deliver a baby for a woman who arrived at the emergency room with only minutes to spare. The delivery went off without a hitch, he said, and provided a much-needed sense of relief and joy for the caregivers who witnessed so much sorrow on a daily basis.

"I think this story is an excellent illustration of life and joy during a time of difficulty," Hayes said. "I don't know that our society has faced anything this difficult for generations. And we have not asked this kind of sacrifice of students, and of parents, and of teachers, and of business owners, and of health care workers. It's unprecedented.

"Yet I think that as a society, and as Utah, we can be confident that we can be resilient. We can find ways to smile, we can find ways to connect with people. We can be patient."

Hayes asked Utahns to continue to follow the advice of state health officials and stay optimistic that this pandemic will soon be in the rearview mirror. He thanked Intermountain for the opportunity.

"This is a remarkable group of people and I was honored to be part of it," he said.

Correction: The spelling of Dr. Bunnell's last name has been corrected.

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