NEW YORK CITY  –  It was a fairly relaxing flight for Valentine.

There was no one beside him, no one behind him, but a lot ahead of him.

The Los Angeles native is a travel nurse who decided to dedicate his medical services to New York City in this time of dire need, as the United States continues to battle the Coronavirus pandemic. New York City is currently the global epicenter of the pandemic.

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“I could have chosen to stay in L.A. or to go to Seattle. But I chose New York because I felt like they needed it the most. They really do. As we know, New York has easily over 11 million people. It’s going to be interesting for me to see how health care is going to be affected during this crisis,” he said.

Working at a hospital in Queens, the main two concerns Valentine has observed is the insufficient supply of medical protective gear, and the overwhelming ratio of patients to nurses.

“The other night there were 16 patients in the ICU, and only two nurses. If a patient is critical, you need one-to-one care. If not, maybe a nurse can take care of two patients in a critical care setting. We are talking about two nurses to six patients. Last night I had five patients. There’s no way we can take care of these patients sufficiently,” he explained.

And that harsh reality is why he chose to travel to and help New York City. But it comes with difficult encounters, like losing patients on his watch - patients he flew across the country for.

Patients had hoped to comfort.

“Last night as a I was admitting a new COVID patient in one room. And I was done with her, I came back to another room, and one of my patients was unresponsive. And I was just kind of talking to him. The last thing he told me was  ‘air, air,’ he was struggling to breathe. ‘Air! Air!’" he said.

"It’s tough. It’s been really tough. I laid him flat. And I started pounding his chest and doing chest compressions as I’m calling for help. Calling Code Blue you know. Make sure the monitors are on. Making sure everything is working while pounding his chest with one arm. There’s not enough to help these people,” he said.

That’s why Valentine believes the stay at home order is so important. But even when it is lifted, he’s conscious of the challenges ahead.

“I do assume that this will continue to happen. So what I will do from there is I will start and really help out in L.A. Jumping into a hospital, and helping out,” he said. 

There’s no coastal rivalry in Valentine’s eyes, just an opportunity to arise and help a nation in crisis. He has been mobilizing volunteers to donate medical protective gear for health care workers. To support his cause, you can follow him on Instagram.