Front-line workers Turn To Tara to share their frustrations

As infection rates skyrocket, doctors and nurses on the front lines of New York’s war against the coronavirus "Turn To Tara to share their frustration.

While many of the health care workers are being praised, what they say they need more is protective gear.

Over the past week, the Turn To Tara team has heard from more than 100 nurses and doctors from across the Hudson Valley and beyond who are grappling with concerns over exposure and too few N95 masks.

MORE: Got a problem? You should Turn to Tara. Here's how.

News 12 spoke to a dozen of them through video chats.

A pediatric nurse and new mom named Sabrina from Ossining is the most worried.

“My mom is working with known COVID-19 patients and her institution is having her wear a simple ear loop mask,” she says. “I actually lost my dad two months ago - to have my mom go into these rooms with inappropriate equipment, it's just gut-wrenching.”

Over in Stony Point, Cynthia Salter spends sleepless nights worrying about her asthmatic daughter and is petrified of showing up at her job each day at a local hospital but can't afford not to.

“I’m up all night all day trying to think who to call, I don't know what to do anymore,” she says.

Dr. Clovis Raymond, of Orangeburg, says he’s been battling a bad case of the coronavirus for 10 days.

“I need people to know this is not a joke,” he says. “The workers need to be protected. They also need faster testing.”

Still, hospital workers like Michael Gramuglia, of Eastchester, show up and try their best every day.

“I try to find the balance of doing the job I signed up for and trying to manage my stress, but it’s hard,” he says.

Although he is one of the few who has plenty of masks, Gramuglia works at Harlem Hospital - where roughly 90% of the beds are filled with patients who have tested positive.

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