LAKELAND, Fla. — A Lakeland hospice nurse is back home in Florida following a stint working in the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, helping to treat COVID-19 patients in a hospital in New York City. 

• Monica Young, 37, currently at home under quarantine
• Young arrived in NYC on April 6, returned to Florida April 28
• More Polk County stories

Monica Young, 37, a registered nurse and mother of six, called it a strong calling from God that compelled her to travel to New York and help during the height of the pandemic.

Young has been working in the health care industry for more than 14 years, serving as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) and a licensed practical nurse (LPN) as well as a registered nurse. 

She recalled that upon arriving at New York City Health+Hospital/Harlem on April 6, she saw COVID-19 patients on stretchers filling the hallways. 

“There were dozens and dozens and dozens of cases and first looking at it, it was overwhelming,” said Young. 

Many of those patients later died. 

“I think the hardest thing for me was that a lot of patients that died, they didn't get to die with their loved ones or family,” Young explained. 

Instead, she and other nurses held their hands and prayed with them. 

“If they were not able to get back home, at least they were able to have someone hold their hand so they wouldn’t die alone,” Young said, putting down her head and fighting back tears. 

"Within a few hours we were intubating them"

Young said she witnessed more than a dozen deaths and stopped counting after that. 

The majority of patients she witnessed came in complaining of shortness of breath. Some only had low-grade fevers. 

“They were not symptomatic," she explained. "They were walking, they were talking, and within a few hours we were intubating them."

She said many of the COVID-19 patients were on ventilators. The worst cases were in the Intensive Care Unit while the rest were housed on multiple floors within the hospital.

Young estimated 95 percent of the 272 bed hospital was filled with coronavirus patients. 

Working around the clock

Young and the other nurses who flew in to help were housed in a hotel and bussed daily to the hospital. They worked more than 12-hour shifts.

She said many of them came without personal protective equipment (PPE), expecting the hospital to provide them some. They soon learned the hospital wasn’t able to provide them respirators that were the proper size.

Young fortunately brought her own.

When she arrived, she said the nurses there were exhausted, some of them working around the clock. 

She was provided with a food voucher but was too afraid to purchase food, afraid of catching the virus, so she ate pre-packaged "Lunchables" the entire time. She lost more than a dozen pounds. 

Young did have some good news to share. She said about half of the patients on the COVID-19 floor she worked on were discharged during her time there. 

Young returned to Lakeland April 28. Her fiancé took her straight to the Orlando Convention Center to be tested for COVID-19. She’s awaiting those test results. She had already tested negative in New York.

In the meantime, she’s in quarantine in her room for 14 days.