JACKSONVILLE, Fla — He’s a Southern boy raised in the Oceanway community of Jacksonville who has seen the world through his travel nursing career. Right now, Justin A.K.A. ‘Boots’ fights COVID-19 on the front lines in New York City. The media calls where he was serving as, ‘the epicenter of the epicenter of Coronavirus.’
Justin was assigned to Elmhurst Hospital, a 500 bed facility near Times Square which treats only COVID-19 patients. He just completed his traveling nurse duties there and has signed an 8-week extension. He explained this means he will work 12-hour shifts with the most critical patients at another hospital in NYC. He is unsure right now where he will go, but he knows he’s ready for the job.
Justin has been an ICU nurse for six years. He said he wouldn’t do anything else. He started college at 29, taking classes and then going on to receive his BSN from the University of North Florida. He received his ADN from Jacksonville State College in Jacksonville. He is now studying for his doctorate, when he’s not saving lives. “Every patient I had was on life-support, and no one passed on my shift,” he said. “I am seeing more patients extubated, which means they can get off a ventilator or ultimately be able to breathe on their own and recover.”
The working conditions at Elmhurst Hospital are similar to COVID-19 hospitals and units, with one exception Justin said, “it’s incredibly loud.” Justin worked the overnight shift in an OR turned 4-bed ICU for nearly three weeks straight. He said the noise level was something he never experienced because every room was a ‘negative pressure room.’ He explained this means, “it’s like living in a vacuum cleaner.” He said the air from inside the room was piped outside and the ventilators were a constant drone of beeps and alarms.
In his career as an ICU nurse, he insists he’s never seen anything like COVID-19. He said he’s used to seeing people leave the hospital and recover with an 80-to-90% success rate. “Fighting COVID-19 is something entirely different,” said Justin. “Being an ICU nurse is a tough job as it is, but adding the extra protective gear of goggles and PPE suit, is also hard because you’re never seeing your colleague’s face. I may see them without their PPE and have no idea who they are until I hear their voice,” he added.
Justin may do superhero work, but he’s not wearing a cape, he’s wearing Lucchese cowboy boots. He’s known as ‘Boots' in the hospital. And he’s happy the nickname stuck. He said he’s worked in a butcher shop and construction, but being an ICU nurse is, “what I’m best at.” When asked what makes him so good, he said he wasn’t sure, but added he knows he loves helping his patients. “One patient in the past was bit by a snake, I fell in love with him and his family because of his stories,” said Boots. “I am friends with a bunch of patients online, and it’s interesting because you end up touching a lot more people than you realize.”
Boots is good at keeping in touch with his former patients. He makes a video for them, his family and friends every day. He said he started doing it as a video journal a few weeks ago and it has become something everyone looks forward to seeing. Now, because of this, he’s pretty popular in the hospital. “You would not believe the amount of care packages people have sent me,” he said. “I’ve received money, enough to buy dinner for all the nurses on the floor. We’ve had pizza, fried chicken and barbecue.” Boots said people just want to help, and it’s good to see. “I think people are inherently good and it truly makes me feel how fortunate I am.”
As far as social distancing goes, Justin said he believes in it. But, he also believes people need routine and sense of normalcy. He said he cannot wait to get home. When he does, he said he wants to go fishing, go to church and go to his favorite restaurant. He said The French Pantry is the one thing about home he misses the most.“Their chicken and mozzarella bruschetta is just one of those things I crave, and the dessert case, oh man, it’s so good.”
Now that Boots has said that, he may just get a few boxes of his favorite food to-go, delivered right to him in the heart of NYC.
