In the spring of 2020, the world’s gaze shifted to New York City as the COVID pandemic quickly set in and claimed thousands of lives. From the comfort of my apartment in California, I anxiously watched news reports of overwhelmed healthcare workers and unprecedented numbers of deaths necessitating refrigerated trucks. It quickly became clear that California, my home state, was not going to reach that same state of emergency at that time, so I used my vacation time to travel to New York City and help in the intensive care unit.