Jackson respiratory therapist travels to New York to help in COVID-19 pandemic

Faith.

It’s what prompted respiratory therapist Amber Morgan to board a flight to New York City as a medical volunteer in the COVID-19 pandemic.

As New York city reported almost 65,000 cases and close to 2,500 deaths as of Sunday, the Federal Emergency Management Agency sent hundreds of medical professionals to the city to assist the more than 14,000 hospitalized with COVID-19. Morgan of Jackson was one of those medical professionals.

Morgan, who has worked at the Saint Francis Medical Center trauma center and previously traveled to sites across Missouri as well as outside of the state, said she first heard about the volunteer opportunity while working at Southeast Hospital. She talked it over with her husband, and called a recruiter for more information. She received a text stating to call a hotline if interested.

On Wednesday, she called the hotline, and after a background check, Morgan was informed she’d be traveling to New York over the weekend.

Hanging up the phone, Morgan said she felt at peace with her decision.

“The good Lord’s got me — I feel protected,” she said Saturday. “I don’t really feel like I’m risking my life because it’s like he’s bubble wrapping me.”

She immediately went on a run with her kids after that phone call, she said, as jogging helps clear her head. Recently, before this, she had accepted a position at her children’s school, St. Paul Lutheran School in Jackson, but had only worked one day before the private school closed due to the coronavirus.

She boarded her flight Friday with only two other passengers; a man in the military and another medical professional.

On the way from the airport to her Midtown Manhattan hotel Friday, Morgan said she experienced an empty New York City. She said Times Square was quiet, and the only vehicles she saw on the streets were first-responders or body trucks. While she had never visited the city before, a friend had described to her the large crowds and bustling streets. Morgan experienced just the opposite.

As of Sunday evening, Morgan said she had not received her assignment, but anticipated learning it within the next couple of days. She said medical volunteers are all housed at the same hotel near Central Park and the assignment will be delivered under the hotel room door. Possibilities included hospitals across the city or the USNS Comfort, a Navy ship docked at New York to accommodate patients not diagnosed with the coronavirus to free more beds in hospitals.

While Morgan did not know her specific assignment, she said she anticipated being quite busy as a respiratory therapist. At a COVID-19 unit at a hospital emergency room, she said her tasks may include running ventilators and intubating patients, similar to her work at Saint Francis.

She’ll be working 12-hour shifts the entirety of her 21-day stay in New York. After that, she may elect to rest for three days before beginning another 21 days of volunteer work or return home.

Morgan said she would like to continue after the 21 initial days, but like much of volunteer assignment at this point, she said the future is just unknown. She does know, however, that she was called to be there.

Morgan said she’s asking for prayers, and while she said she feels firm in her decision, she has no idea what she will experience in the next 21 days.