East Texas nurses traveling to New York City to aid in COVID-19 response

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Updated: Apr. 9, 2020 at 9:36 PM CDT
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TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - Three East Texas nurses will soon be on a plane to New York to assist with the city’s COVID-19 response.

“I feel like this will be in the history books, and I feel called to go,” said CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances nurse Hannah Latham.

In two days, three nurses from CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler will be on a plane to New York. Hannah Latham is one of them.

"I don’t really know what to expect as far as what the working conditions will be, but I’m ready for anything,” Latham said.

In one of the epicenters of the COVID-19 outbreak, she and the other nurses will be treating patients.

This would be a difficult decision for anyone, but even more so for Hannah. She’s a single mom who will be leaving behind her 5-year-old son.

“I’ve never been away from him, especially for this long, so I thought I kinda had feelings of guilt like, ‘Do I need to stay? Do I need to go?' but I think in the end, it won’t have a negative impact on him. I’ll get back, and he’ll love me just as much and know that his mama did the right thing,” Latham said.

However, she is healthy and ready to go. Hannah says fear of the virus isn’t stopping her from wanting to help.

"I plan on fighting it if I do get it and quarantining and doing all the right things that it takes, but I’m not afraid of getting sick,” Latham said.

As she geared up to move to a place she’s never been to before, where she will treat people sickened with a deadly virus, Hannah said it’s the support from friends and family that will keep her spirits up.

"We’re leaving Saturday morning at 9 a.m., so I’ve got lots of people praying for me and worried about me, so I’ll be looking forward to getting there but also looking forward to getting back,” Latham said.

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