She’s never cared for a patient with COVID-19, but a recent nursing graduate from Kent State’s Geauga campus will be doing so this week as she begins work in one of the epicenters of the coronavirus pandemic. Bailey Hill, 23, who grew up in Geauga and Ashtabula Counties, traveled on Friday with a group from Cleveland Clinic to New York City. They will be working in New York Presbyterian Hospital’s Weill Cornell Medical Center in Midtown Manhattan.
Hill earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing in 2018. She began her career at Cleveland Clinic’s main campus in a cardiovascular intensive care unit.
The Clinic asked for volunteers willing to go to New York. Bailey responded immediately. “I decided to go to NYC to help because I’ve heard of how desperate they are and of the patient loads being forced upon the nurses,” she wrote in a conversation via text message. “It isn’t fair to them or their patients, and I want to go where there’s a need.”
Hospitalizations in New York City for COVID-19 have started to slowly decline. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Saturday the city may be “past the plateau.” But the city’s hospitals continue to admit thousands of patients a day. The New York Times reports about 2,000 people were admitted to city hospitals Friday with symptoms of COVID-19.
Hill said the group from Cleveland Clinic includes 10 physicians and 15 nurses. They arrived in New York City on Friday and will begin work in the hospital Monday. “There’s a certain amount of onboarding/orientation we need to get through before being on the units,” Hill said in a text.
Though she’s never been to the hospital where she’ll be working, Hill has visited NYC twice in the last year. “I love the city,” she said. She says the Clinic group will work in the New York hospital for four weeks and will stay at a hotel nearby.
Hill encourages people to continue to act in ways that will help limit the spread of the coronavirus. “Continue social distancing and listen to recommendations from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) and WHO (World Health Organization),” she texted. “I know these are troubling times, and it’s difficult being away from loved ones—but it’s imperative that we band together and take necessary precautions so the curve can flatten and normalcy can return.”
Hill was influenced to become a nurse by her own family. Her mother, Holly, is a nurse. “I never worked directly with my mom, but there was a time that we could carpool to work when I was still in school and working as a clinical technician,” she said. “My parents and younger sister moved out west three years ago, so unfortunately we haven’t been able to drive to work together both as nurses.”
