A Kentucky nurse is in the heart of the U.S. coronavirus battle trying to save lives.
"It's scary, people are dying,” said Trinity Goodman.
You might consider Goodman a Kentucky warrior on the front lines, fighting an enemy like we’ve never seen before.
"Emotionally and mentally it's exhausting," said Goodman. "It's really exhausting to have to have to put people in body bags every day."
A Bell County native and Berea College graduate, Goodman is an ICU nurse who decided to drop everything and head to New York City to work in the overwhelmed hospital system battling COVID-19.
"It wasn't a decision that I made lightly. When I came into this I knew that there was a possibility of losing my job at home and leaving my friends and family, and I knew it wasn't going to be easy,” said Goodman.
Goodman has worked 13 hour days the last 16 days straight in a hospital in the Bronx. She says it’s like a war zone.
"It's getting to the point where doctors are making decisions like we can't waste any more resources on this patient who isn't going to have a quality of life, so we're going to have to talk to the family and withdraw care because we need that ventilator, we need those drips that he's on. I've had patients like that," Goodman explained. "And you know the doctor has just gone in and turned off their medicine. I've been in another room and patients have died while I'm in another room, and they died alone. And we all feel, like, I've felt extremely guilty. It's the kind of feeling I never thought I'd feel before."
Goodman says resources are spread thin and staff are overworked.
"You're doing your best even if it's killing you, and you don't get to take a break and you don't get to go to the bathroom all day or eat anything and you're miserable. You're going to do what you have to do for your patients,” said Goodman.
She tells us it’s her patients that keep her going.
Every time someone is discharged or taken off a ventilator, Goodman says her hospital plays “Fight Song” over the intercom.
"When you hear that song, like immediately, the doctors, nurses, it doesn't matter if it's your patient or a patient you've never met, you just start crying you're just so happy,” said Goodman.
Goodman recently extended her contract there from 21 days to 42. She says she believes God put this opportunity in her path for a reason.
She also wants people back home to know that this battle is far from over.
"People need to continue to take it seriously. And instead of reopening everything, really think about what that would mean. Because it would mean we would have a surge, and that would mean that people are going to get sick and die,” said Goodman.
Goodman wants to encourage everyone to listen to the governor, continue social distancing, and to think of medical workers like her who are risking their lives to save others.
This article was written by Kylen Mills for WLEX.