COON RAPIDS, Minn — Firestar Charette is a busy mom and ER nurse at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids. But a plea from New York Governor Andrew Cuomo a few weeks ago gave her pause.
"He basically looked into the camera and said, 'We need help.' And so that kind of affected me," Charette said.
Charette is now preparing to leave for New York City this weekend, where she'll be floating among the ERs at three or four Mt. Sinai Hospital locations in Manhattan. She starts Monday and has committed to spend the next eight weeks helping in NYC.
"I'll be working on the front lines with the COVID effort," she said. "I'm extremely nervous. A little healthy dose of terrified, as well. But I'm also excited [and] anxious to get started."
Charette worked with a nursing staffing agency, which arranges for nurses to travel to other hospitals for work. She got the offer from Mt. Sinai this week. In addition to her pay, she'll get a stipend for food and lodging.
The staffing agency is working with her to find a place to stay.
Charette works what's called a "casual" schedule at Mercy, which gives her the flexibility to go to New York to help.
"I know how, on a regular busy day when we feel short staffed and our volumes are really high, how overwhelming that is. I feel like, if there are people who can mobilize and go out there to help the efforts, why not?" she said. "Maybe if it ever hits here as hard as it does there, maybe then they'll come here and help us."
Charette says friends and community members have been giving her personal protective equipment to bring with to NYC in case she needs it.
"I'm going to welcome anything that anyone will give me and bring it with me," she said. "If I end up with a surplus, I'll share it with colleagues."
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