Jacksonville nurse helping the fight of COVID-19 in New York City

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A local mother is in New York City doing her part in the fight against COVID-19.

It’s been 19 days since Lynette Smith stepped foot in New York and for most of them she has worked long hours caring for COVID-19 patients.

Smith is making herself home in New York City.

Smith boarded a flight from Jacksonville last month leaving behind her family in Folkston, Georgia.

“I began to take vitamins. I began to pray a lot and I didn’t share it with anyone but my two sisters,” Smith said.

Smith told Action News Jax the assignment at Lincoln Hospital in Bronx, New York was a calling for her.

“When I first got here I was on a makeshift ICU which was very chaotic,” Smith said.

That calling was to sign a 21-day travel nursing contract in the middle of the coronavirus outbreak, but Smith says her contract has now been extended eight more weeks because the staff there expect another wave of COVID-19 this fall.

“I had one patient, his temperature was so high that his body begins to fight itself and he began to form boils all over his body,” Smith said.

Smith says no matter how much progress New York is making to save lives people are still dying from COVID-19. She also says after a long day at work and on her walk home from shifts, she is often met with cheers from neighbors on lockdown.

“The fact that I’m able to help in such small ways is major,” explained Smith.

Smith says when she gets home she puts her clothes in the washing machine and wipes down anything else she’s touched throughout the day because the work still isn’t over.

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