Local nurse returns from treating Covid-19 patients in hard-hit NYC

NEW YORK -- Of the more than 1.2 million cases of Covid-19 across the country, roughly 180,000 are in New York City alone.

A local nurse who works in Olympia just returned from a trip to NYC to help ease the strain on the city's health care system.

Christina Greenway spent three weeks caring for patients battling the virus at multiple facilities.

Greenway has been a registered nurse for six years, but what she experienced in New York is something she never could have imagined.

"Just the lack of basic PPE, basic cleaning supplies, things like that were the biggest challenges we faced there," she said. "It was very overwhelming. You go to help and you really want to help, and I felt like I don't have the basic tools."

As hard as it was, Greenway recalls some "silver linings," although difficult, that reinforced her reason for being there and being a nurse.

"One of the biggest things that I felt good about was being able to use the iPad and talk to patients and families since visitors weren't allowed," she said. "That's what they look forward to every single day was being able to see their families or talk to them. (There were) a lot of conversations on the phone just catching families up and being able to use the iPad and things like that. Those are kind of the happy memories that that I brought brought home and the fact that I was there to just kind of advocate for patients and try to get them sent out to hospitals and and things like that."

Greenway says she's glad to be home, but she's still collecting cleaning supplies to send back to the nurses she met in New York City.