Traveling Nurse Has Treated Critical COVID-19 Patients in Texas, New York and Arizona

"I'm calling families after a patient passes to tell them I was there. I held their hand, they weren't alone."

She's a modern-day Florence Nightingale — traveling from state-to-state to treat severely ill COVID-19 patients. In March, nurse Bridgett Harrigan went from her home in Texas to Queens, New York, at the height of the crisis in New York.     

Now, with the pandemic crisis shifting west, Harrigan has also moved to Arizona, which is experiencing its own peak in cases.

"Never in my lifetime did I think I would actually be responding to a global pandemic," Harrigan said. 

She had tough moments in New York, with many of her patients facing death.

"After doing everything we could medically, many times all I could do was hold their hands," Harrigan said. "One time I sang to a patient. I'm calling families after a patient passes to tell them I was there. I held their hand, they weren't alone."

With all the exposure to the virus, Harrigan's own health is at risk. 

"I've been tested and my swabs have [come] back negative."

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