校友志愿者在纽约完成COVID任务

米莉·特鲁想感受新鲜粉末的嘎吱声. 她准备在脚下踩一双北欧滑雪板, a cool, cutting breeze in her face and the beautiful ranges of the Rocky Mountains before her eyes.

Providence had other plans.

With a calling to serve, 特鲁把滑雪护目镜换成了N95口罩, her snowsuit and skis for an isolation gown and face shield and her view of one of the world's most beautiful natural wonders for a front-row seat to the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in America.

旅行护士，2016年毕业于勒努瓦-雷恩大学, Treu was completing an assignment at Duke University Hospital when the world was rocked by coronavirus. She was planning on heading west for a contract in Colorado before deciding to change course.

“我真的觉得上帝在召唤我去纽约，”她说. "My initial instinct was that it seemed like too much, but He asked me to go. I had the time. I knew I could, so I drove on up a couple days after I finished my assignment in Durham."

A cardiac nurse by trade, Treu accepted a position at Staten Island University Hospital working in a new psychiatric facility that had its completion expedited and adapted to care for COVID-19 patients.

"Normally there are a lot of steps and a lot of hoops to jump through in order to get a New York license, 但纽约正处于生存和绝望之中," she said. “他们对我说，‘来吧，等你来了全球网赌十大网站再想办法.'"

四月中旬她刚到纽约的时候, the state of New York had more confirmed cases of coronavirus than any nation on earth, according to CNBC, with more than 160,000 cases. 这一数字超过了中国、西班牙、法国、德国和意大利.

Five weeks into her contract, a hospital administrator pulled Treu and her colleagues aside to inform them the pop-up facility where she was working had treated more COVID patients than any facility in the state of New York. And their hospital system, Northwell Health, 比世界上任何一个系统治疗的COVID患者都多.

"Milly's response to the pandemic represents the LR mission and our focus on true vocation and service to God and the world," said Dr. 勒努瓦-雷恩大学健康科学学院院长迈克尔·麦基说. "During a chaotic time, 米莉接了电话，提供了急需的服务, 她以自己的信仰生活，并为他人树立榜样."

Combating COVID

When working on a cardiac floor, Treu typically worked with heart transplant patients. Upon her arrival in New York, she adapted to helping patients on ventilators in respiratory distress.

"I honestly wasn't surprised I was moved to a COVID unit, but I was a little nervous," she said. “不过他们很照顾全球网赌十大网站，所有的护士和工作人员都很安全."

While some sections of the country struggled to field proper personal protective equipment (PPE), 特鲁说，史坦顿岛大学医院的情况并非如此.

“全球网赌十大网站没有任何个人防护装备短缺，”她说. "I wore PPE my entire shift. 在全球网赌十大网站进入部队之前就有一个穿衣服的地方. 全球网赌十大网站有一个N95口罩和一个普通口罩. 全球网赌十大网站穿着长袍和护眼服. 全球网赌十大网站把第一层手套叫做皮肤, and we wore a second layer of gloves that we changed each time we came out of a patient's room."

由于经常使用个人防护装备，特鲁的鼻子上出现了瘀伤, 她说直到七月底才完全痊愈, 在她的合同结束几个星期后.

She said her bosses ensured Treu and her fellow health care workers were not put in situations of undue risk. 他们被鼓励充分休息, to get outside absent of respirator masks to breath fresh air and see the sun or stars.

特鲁每周上三次12小时的夜班. However, 因为她经常与COVID-19患者互动, she largely spent the rest of her time in quarantine and offered to help with more shifts as needed.

“我无法想象自己去了别的地方，”她说. “看到人们变得更好真的很开心. That's the most unique part of my job, because I was not in the (Intensive Care Unit). I wasn't watching patients leave in body bags; I was watching them leave to go home. 成千上万的病人离开了全球网赌十大网站的医院，全球网赌十大网站得鼓掌让他们离开. It was surreal."

当然，对于那些了解Treu的人来说，这种反应并不奇怪.

“她是那种总是真心实意的人。. 克里·汤普森，勒努瓦-雷恩大学护理学院院长. “她是一名优秀的护士，但她对别人有真正的同情心. She saw people who were suffering and thought if there was something she can do to help; she was going to try. 我觉得她每天都在那里发挥着重要作用."

每天晚上全球赌博十大网站报道阳性病例和不断增加的死亡人数, a sense of dread has grown, but that hasn't reached Treu.

"When I first got to New York, almost every unit at Staten Island was a COVID unit," she said. “当我离开的时候，只有两个. 医院的其他地方很干净.

"On the news, we see the worst of the worst, but I got to see the best of the best. 我得看着病人好起来，然后回家. That was the best part."

Greer to Greenwich Village

特鲁来自南卡罗来纳州的格里尔，一个大约有3万人口的城市. Two hours to the North, she received her training to become a nurse at Lenoir-Rhyne in the city of Hickory, population 40,000.

Moving to one of the most populous megacities on earth in the midst of a worldwide pandemic was an adjustment.

"The hardest part was being in New York City and not being able to do anything," she said. “即使在最平凡的城市，我也能找到真正有趣的事情做. I'm only there for three months, but here I was in the city that never sleeps and no one could leave their home."

No Broadway. No trips to Central Park.

Treu said typically bustling tourist destinations and streets famous for bumper-to-bumper traffic were like ghost towns.

“我真的很幸运，在网上遇到了一些社区，”她说. “我是布鲁克林一个虚拟社区小组的成员. 我直到最后才亲自见到他们, 但我觉得那里有我的人, as well as back home. 我从未感到孤独或孤独."

她每天都会收到来自朋友和家人的鼓励信息.

"While most people are running the other direction and not getting involved," Thompson said. “米莉跑过去说，‘我来帮忙.“对她来说，我认为这是一种参与其中的召唤.

"I'm very proud of Milly and all our Lenoir-Rhyne graduates out there on the front lines. 我确实担心他们，但我知道他们准备好了. 我知道他们使用了适当的个人防护装备, 尽他们所能保护自己和家人, but at the same time offering care to those individuals who are so in need right now."

当她不工作的时候，特鲁可以出去散步. 她从《全球网赌十大网站》里的餐厅里拿了一片披萨, 她还租了一辆水上摩托车，直接开到自由女神像前.

"I'm so glad I did it," she said. “我遇到的人和我的经历改变了我的生活."

Treu said the day-to-day experience living in New York City was certainly different from that of North Carolina.

从纽约回来后, she said friends, former classmates and friends in the medical field have reached out for advice on how to combat the surge in cases that struck the rest of the country.

"In New York, restrictions were put in place and vigorously enforced," she said. "The lines outside stores had 6-foot spaces between people that was enforced. 商店里允许的人数是强制的. When you think of New York, 你会想到非常糟糕的交通和很多人, 但街上几乎空无一人.

"I do think because a lot of people didn't see the height and depth of how bad this virus is, there is a bit of a nonchalance. 我真的把手放在了新冠患者身上. I had to lean in close to them; I couldn't keep 6-feet away. 我戴着N95口罩和医用口罩，从未生病. I know that wearing masks works. It really does."

在纽约期间，特鲁面临着历史上的重大时刻. 尽管世界范围的流行病和全国范围的抗议，她仍然茁壮成长.

And she made it out unscathed.

“我的建议是继续保持社交距离，”她说. “戴上口罩，洗手. Continue to be patient with each other, love one another and we'll get through this."