NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. — As the number of COVID-19 cases skyrocketed in New York City, Canaan Maffeo left the comfort of his home in Florida and headed north, signing up to work in the emergency room at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan.
“Some of it was about coming up here and to learn and see and observe that kind of stuff, which I've learned a lot since coming up here. so that's great. Then the other part was just helping people out,” Maffeo said.
More than 43,000 people have been hospitalized in New York City with COVID-19, and more than 13,000 have died according to the City of New York.
“For me personally, the ones that are on ventilators and stuff, it's almost it's about four out of five pass away,” Maffeo said. “Once I saw it and saw the mortality rate and saw who it was affecting people, it was kind of a shock. I didn't expect that many people to not survive once they were on the ventilator.”
Working the overnight shift six days a week, the father of three has missed several milestones as he works on the frontlines of the coronavirus crisis.
“Alexa, my oldest, she just turned six when I was up here, and then I have a three-year-old and then my youngest just turned two while I was up here,” Maffeo said. “It's been hard because I've missed two birthdays down there, but you know we're serving the greater good, and I'll get to spend some time with them when I get back.”
Maffeo spent what was supposed to have been his graduation day from Jacksonville University's nurse practitioner program working in the ER in New York City.
“When my coworkers up here found out that I had was missing graduation down there that threw me a little impromptu mini fake graduation in the ER and videotaped. It was nice,” he said.
Maffeo has extended his contract to work a few more weeks in New York City, eager to continue to help those in need.
“It’s starting to get better,” Maffeo said. “The census is down, and we have a lot of staff to help which is great, but I am seeing as we take our bus in and out of the hospital a lot more people around the streets without masks and in the parks and stuff like that. I don't think it's over yet, so we'll see.”