New York congresswoman ‘felt so helpless’ after hearing nurse’s plea for help
Rep. Grace Meng described feeling powerless when she received a call on Friday from a nurse begging for more medical support at Elmhurst hospital in Queens — one of the hospitals reeling from the virus’ rapid spread in the state.
“I got this call at about the same time that we were on or near the floor of the House debating this bill, getting ready to vote on this bill,” the New York Democrat told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Friday, referencing the $2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package the chamber had passed earlier Friday.
“I couldn’t help but feel so helpless — she is not the first person who’s reached out to me,” Meng added.
Earlier Friday, Meng had recounted the phone call on Twitter, portraying a dire scene at the hospital.
“My hands are shaking i can’t type. A nurse at my elmhurst hospital who i don’t know just called me crying,” Meng tweeted. “She said they need vents but more so need doctors and also doctors who are ICU trained. She told me they cry everyday bc they know they’re gonna die. They’re begging. Please”
Elmhurst has been hit hard by the virus, with medical professionals telling CNN they have been bursting at the seams and experiencing a state of panic.
Meng told Blitzer that she and a fellow New York Democrat, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, had recently sent President Donald Trump a letter imploring him to prioritize directing personal protective equipment and ventilators to the hospital.
“People have been pleading for weeks, weeks since we knew … what was happening in New York. Our governor’s been begging; we have been asking for the President to do what he finally did today, to invoke not — by words but with actions — the Defense Production Act,” Meng added, referencing Trump’s move to require General Motors to produce more ventilators to deal with increased coronavirus hospitalizations.
“Elmhurst is the epicenter of what is happening here in New York, and New York is the epicenter of the crisis around the country,” Meng said. “This is a warning to the rest of the country if we don’t do things right.”
Meng is not alone in petitioning Trump directly for federal help for the hospital.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio called the hospital among the hardest hit in the city on Friday and said he had asked Trump, who grew up in Queens, to keep Elmhurst in mind when he spoke to the President that day about how the city needs additional medical personnel as quickly as possible.
Within the hospital, 45 members of the ambulatory staff have been moved to work on urgent Covid-19 cases, de Blasio said. The New York Health and Hospital System has sent Elmhurst an additional 65 clinicians — including registered nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and physicians — and an additional 105 nurses will be sent Saturday to assist in the Covid-19 fight, he added.
