Coronavirus News: NYC doctor shares video diary from center of COVID-19 fght

ByEyewitness News WABC logo

Thursday, April 16, 2020

Video diary offers stark, frontline view in ER

NYC doctor takes Kemberly Richardson inside the ER for an overnight shift.

NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- An emergency room doctor at a hospital in Manhattan shared his experience on the front lines of the fight against coronavirus.

Dr. Erick Eiting created a video diary during his overnight shift Friday night inside the emergency room at Mount Sinai Beth Israel on the Lower East Side, taking viewers into a respiratory isolation pod for COVID-19 patients in the ER.

He says, like at so many hospitals in our area, nearly all of the hospital's departments have been converted to treat coronavirus patients.

As Dr. Eiting began his shift, he noticed his team was in unusually good spirits.

"People are working incredibly hard," Dr. Eiting said. "Somehow people are so dedicated and trying to make better a really trying and challenging situation."

Mount Sinai Beth Israel has successfully increased the number of critical care beds across its network of hospitals, and more will be added this week.

Dr. Eiting says the increase has been "hectic," but he feels the hospital is prepared for more.

So far, because of how contagious coronavirus is, families have not been allowed to be with loved ones who are near death in the hospitals.

Mount Sinai recently changed its visitor policy and is now allowing relatives to visit patients who are close to death.

"We're really just trying to do whatever we can to make it a little better," Dr. Eiting said.

When, Dr. Eiting's shift ended Saturday morning, he headed home exhausted, but with a sense of purpose.

"I feel like I'm walking away feeling very positive, feeling we did some good things for patients, " Dr. Eiting said. "The ER is all about teams and team work and making things happen."