If you call them, they will come.
In just a single day, one thousand retired and private practice doctors and nurses answered City Hall’s cry for help, volunteering to join the Big Apple’s medical reserve and help treat their fellow New Yorkers stricken with coronavirus.
“I think that’s so inspiring, so many people are coming forward to help and that’s how we’re going to beat this back,” Hizzoner told radio station WCBS-880AM.
They join the 9,000 medical professionals already registered with the city’s Department of Health as part of the Medical Reserve Corps. to pitch in during times of emergency.
De Blasio is also recruiting appropriately credentialed medical students and asked the federal government to send in healthcare workers from other parts of the country.
“We’re hoping to get more,” said Herman Schaffer, the assistant commissioner for community outreach at the city’s Office of Emergency management. “We have reached out to retired doctors and nurses and will be continuing to promote this.”
“This is the first time we’ve done this. This is the first time we’ve built a staffing pool like this,” he added, saying the 9,000 members of the reserve corps were sufficient to handle medical care during Hurricane Sandy.
De Blasio put out the call for help to retired or private-practice doctors and nurses on Tuesday to help treat coronavirus patients after the city’s caseload grew by 100 overnight.
The COVID-19 tallies continued their depressing march upward, hitting 1,871 cases in the five boroughs alone. So far, 11 people have died.