Helping hands in the Big Apple: Hoover High grad serves in New York City hospital

Some people run from danger, but others look past it and see a chance to help others.

That’s what happened with 32-year-old Ashley Prichard, a 2005 Hoover High School graduate, when she heard of the need for medical workers in the COVID-19 hot spot of New York City.

Prichard had just been laid off from her job as a physician’s assistant at a Birmingham area orthopedic surgeon’s clinic in March due to COVID-19 when a friend showed her an ad seeking temporary medical workers in the Big Apple, where hospitals were being flooded with COVID-19 patients.

Thirty-six hours later, on April 1, she was on a plane to New York with four other physician assistants and nurses from Alabama and Mississippi.

“I just saw a need and wanted to be able to help out. I knew I was young and healthy,” Prichard said. “I just kind of felt that if God sent me here, I would be protected.”

Prichard said she was among about 50 short-term medical workers sent to the Metropolitan Hospital Center in the East Harlem neighborhood in New York City by a company called Krucial Staffing.

The community hospital was short-staffed before the COVID-19 crisis hit, but the shortage became worse as patient numbers climbed and some staff became unavailable, Prichard said.

“People were calling in sick because they were scared and didn’t want to come to work,” she said. Others had to stay home with kids whose schools or daycares had closed.

The 50 short-term workers from all over the country were divided up between a COVID-19 testing center, the emergency room and intensive care unit. Prichard was among six physician assistants and nurse practitioners sent to the emergency room.

Her job was to fill in anywhere and everywhere she was needed. She had limited experience with emergency medicine, mostly from a four-week rotation in the emergency room when she was a student, but “I definitely picked it up as I went,” she said.

She would assess patients as they arrived, order tests and X-rays, prescribe and administer medication, suture and splint wounds, admit patients and send them to surgery if needed.

SERIOUS HEALTH THREAT

Metropolitan Hospital, a community hospital, wasn’t as flooded with patients as some of the Level 1 trauma centers in New York City, but the crisis, impact and threat of COVID-19 were definitely real, Prichard said. “It was affecting anyone and everyone.”

About half the patients coming into the ER tested positive for COVID-19, and about half of those were being admitted to the hospital, mostly with breathing problems, Prichard said. Others with less severe symptoms were sent home to quarantine and get better.

The threat of infection spreading to medical workers was real, so they all suited up in personal protective equipment from head to toe, Prichard said. She would put on an N95 mask, another mask over that, paper scrubs, a jacket, two pairs of gloves, a hat, face shield and shoe booties.

Still, one of the temporary workers contracted COVID-19 while there and had to be sent home to Detroit to quarantine, Prichard said. “It was scary.”

Of course, the thought that she could contract the disease crossed her mind, “but I did not let myself worry about that,” she said.

LONG DAYS, GRATEFUL HEARTS

Her initial assignment was for 21 straight days of 12-hour shifts, but the need persisted, and Prichard agreed to stay on until June 19. In the latter part of her stay, she worked 12-hour days six days a week. However, the demand at her hospital lessened as time went on, and Prichard was demobilized and came back to Alabama on May 23.

While she was there, Krucial Staffing put her up in a hotel and paid her well with hazard pay, she said.

One of the things that amazed her the most was all the support the medical workers received from the community, she said. Everyday, people donated and sent them meals. New York firefighters paraded by the hospital to show support, and New York police gave medical workers an escort to work one day.

Even the little expressions of gratitude meant so much, Prichard said. While there weren’t many people out and about, when hospital workers did venture out into the world and saw people, people would stop and clap for them, she said. Every night at 7 p.m., people in the city would go out on their balconies and cheer and clap for the health careworkers, she said.

“That kind of would motivate me to keep working every day,” she said. “Everybody was just so thankful.”

SUPPORT FROM HOME

Prichard, who grew up in the Monte D’Oro neighborhood, said her parents were worried about her going to a COVID-19 hot spot but were supportive.

Her dad, Mike Prichard, said he at first told her there was no way she was going to New York to work. “I didn’t want her to go,” he said.

But the more she talked about it and her desire to be a first responder, he realized she had a genuine desire to go and help others and backed off his opposition, he said. Still, “it was a whole wave of emotions.”

He shifted and began offering advice on how to protect herself in a big city, being aware of her surroundings at all times. He also thought it was a good opportunity for her to show those New Yorkers what a good Southern woman was like, he said.

While she was there, he sent her face masks, face shields and safety glasses and stayed in touch via telephone and FaceTime.

Prichard said her brother and sister sent her flowers, and friends sent her letters and packages with her favorite snacks. “That definitely helped encourage me.”

LEARNING OPPORTUNITY

The regular staff at Metropolitan Hospital also was extremely appreciative of the short-term support workers, Prichard said. It was a great experience getting to work alongside them and bond with them and other people from all over the country.

She talked with some of the doctors who were there during the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, and they told her this was an even tougher experience than that, she said.

Her time in New York also gave her some valuable professional experience and an opportunity to improve her skills, she said. She learned so much in the ER.

Prichard said the staff at her hospital always had plenty of personal protective equipment, and she was tested twice to see if she had COVID-19 — once about halfway through her stay and again at the end. She tested negative both times.

Still, when she returned to Alabama, she had to quarantine at her home in Vestavia Hills for two weeks, and her younger sister, who lives with her, had to stay with her dad during that time.

This was not how Prichard had expected to spend the last few months, but “it has been the best experience for me.”