Skylar Killebrew (left) and Chelsei Ward Kumar (right).
By Lisa Kava
Two Alabama nurses arrived on the Upper West Side earlier this month to help treat Covid-19 patients in NYC.
Chelsei Ward Kumar, 35, an ICU nurse, and Skylar Killebrew 32, an ER nurse, responded to an urgent request for nurses needed in New York City and began working in a city hospital on April 8th. The nurses are living on West 69th Street in a short term rental.
The two friends, who attended nursing school together, felt it was their responsibility to help in a place where there was clearly a great need. “Alabama is being affected by Covid-19 but not nearly as badly as New York” said Chelsei. “We would need to be quarantined from our families no matter where we worked so we decided to go where we were most needed.” The nurses were required to undergo a lengthy screening process prior to being accepted to work at the New York City hospital.
Chelsei and Skylar provide daily care 5 days a week to patients afflicted with Covid-19. They work 12-14 hour shifts beginning at 7:30 a.m. and ending at 8 p.m. or often later, with a 30 minute lunch break.
Their temporary digs on West 69th Street.
“A typical work day involves long hours of running around, mixing drips and taking care of critically ill patients on ventilators” Chelsei told West Side Rag. “The patients are scared because family cannot be there. That is the hardest part, the patients are alone. We are seeing patients die with no family at their side. It breaks our hearts and we wish we could do so much more.”
“It is also difficult being so far from home and from our loved ones” said Skylar who left her mother, nieces and grandmother at home in Alabama. Chelsei, who is a mom of a 12 year old daughter with asthma (currently being cared for by her own mother) echoed her friend’s sentiment.
Despite the emotional and physical toll of the work, both nurses say the experience is incredibly rewarding. ”Working in healthcare, you have to be selfless” said Chelsei. “We act as advocates for the patients and have even helped them FaceTime family members” said Skyler. “We are working with terrific physicians and residents and we hope we are making a difference.”
This is the first visit to New York City for both women. They are touched by the kindness of their new UWS neighbors. “The people who live in the building have been amazing, they check on us every day to see how we are doing” said Chelsei. “One night I was craving Coca- Cola and I texted Eileen Vazquez, the building manager, just to ask where I might find some. A short time later she was buzzing at our door to deliver 5 bottles of soda.”
“People talk about Southern hospitality but I can say that the residents of West 69th Street and some of the people we have met on the Upper West Side have Northern hospitality!” said Skylar.
On days off, the nurses catch up on sleep, run in Central Park and marvel at the cherry blossoms. They have been enjoying the free banana pudding given by Magnolia Bakery to healthcare workers. “I have to say it is better than any Southern cooked banana pudding I have tried,” said Chelsei.
Both nurses will return to Alabama after June 12th when their contract at the New York City hospital ends. They will then need to quarantine for two weeks before reuniting with their families.
“We would like to tell all New Yorkers, stay strong, we all are one nation and we will fight this together. Everyone in New York, inside and outside the hospital has been amazing. We would like to thank everyone for the gratitude and support and for the cheers every night at 7 p.m. We hear them and we are so thankful.”
Thank you for all you are doing, Skylar and Chelsei. Welcome to the neighborhood!
Thank you so much ❤️
All the best to those two, beautiful steel magnolias!!
Thank you so much. We appreciate all of you!
Roll Tide or War Eagle, ladies, whichever y’all are, and thank you very much for coming.
I’m War Eagle and Skylar is Roll tide. Lol thank you so much for the welcome!
As a former Tennesseean now living on the Upper West Side, I thank you for the kindness and compassion you are showing to my adopted city. We are all so appreciative and forever grateful.
No thank you! We are so glad to be welcomed and everyone being so nice.
Beauty, brains, heart and courage. What a combination! These girls are amazing.
Thanks for everything.:)
Thank you so much. Just a heart for others. Thank you so much for the compliment. ❤️
Wonderful story and amazing nurses! New Yorkers are grateful for your service!!!!! Welcome to the neihinirbood. Wishing you and your families health and peace during this difficult time. You are an inspiration and we thank you!
And we thank y’all for being so grateful and amazing! We appreciate Everyone supporting us and welcoming us. We are very thankful.
So proud of my daughter-in-love, Chelsei. She is a phenomenal nurse! She loves her patients and cares for them as if they were her own family.
Love you! Thank you for your support ❤️
You are what makes America great. Thank you.
Just trying to make a difference and help others when we can. We have been grateful for the gratitude and support.
Absolute champions. Welcome to New York! We are so glad you are here!
We are so glad to be here! Even though nothing is open, we are still enjoying it and everyone we meet and trying to help make a little difference .
Welcome Chelsei and Skylar! Thank you for everything that you’re doing!!!
Thank you all for welcoming us and the support! We are so thankful everyone we have met has been wonderful.
Words cannot describe how grateful we are to you. Glad you are being treated like royalty! Wishing you and your families good health and happiness always.
Thank you so much, be we are just ordinary girls that love what we do! ❤️
So proud of my daughter Chelsei and her friend Skylar
Me and Ry miss you but we are so proud of you. We know you are doing what you were called to do and that’s put your passion and love into taking care of your patients. Thank you all for being so welcoming to them
Love mom and Ry
Love you mom and you taught me to be selfless. I love you and Ryleigh so much and miss you both with everything I have!! ❤️❤️😂
@Kathy Smith: thank you for raising your daughter to be such an outstanding human being, willing to contribute everything she can to people she doesn’t know—going so far as to leave her own daughter to do so. You must be an excellent mother, and your daughter is herself setting a wonderful example for her own daughter. The people of NYC thank you and Ry—and especially Chesei and Skylar—for the sacrifices you’re all making for the greater good. It is precisely this spirit that will keep the world turning and help lift a new (and newly pervasive) breed of our tired, our poor, and our huddled masses yearning to breathe free. (And on a personal note, I must say I’m so pleased Chelsei and Skylar are having the chance to dispel the myth of the cold New Yorker as I myself did when I moved here from the south many years ago… I was expecting abrasive, hurried people who would look at me with scorn and contempt, and what I found instead was a lot of unexpected kindness and warmth)
Thank you so much for the kind words. Y’all are making me cry. I’m very proud of Chelsei and when she told me she wanted to be a nurse I told her then if you can care for your patients like they were your family then that’s what you should do but if not you should find a different profession. She has made me proud. She felt like she was needed most there and that’s what she was called to do so we support her. I know in my heart she is giving her patients the best care possible. Again I appreciate all the kind words. I believe we should always love and help anyone in need and she iis the same.
My mother did an amazing job raising me and has always been selfless. We are teaching my daughter the same. To love everyone and help when you can. Thank you so much for the sweet comment for my family and for us. We appreciate you all!
Skylar and Chelsei, we are so grateful for you coming to help our city in its time of need. You are the best of humanity. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Thank you for your support and kindness. We wouldn’t want to be anywhere but here to help right now.
Thank you and bless you!
Bless u! Thank you for your kind comment!
Years ago, in convincing my niece to become a nurse, I described nursing as one of the “noble professions”. After reading about you Chelsei and Skylar, I now know that my description was not syrupy idealism.
Thank you for coming to our aid, for saving so many lives, and for being like family to those who would not see theirs again. May your examples inspire young people to choose a path similar to yours, rather than the elusive one of fame and wealth.
We will not forget you — just as we still hold in our hearts all those who came to help us after 9/11 — when, finally, I understood that New York City was part of the union, and that people in the rest of the country knew we were one.
Bless you and all your loved-ones.
Thank you for your sweet and thoughtful comment. People definitely do not become nurses for the money. You have to care and love strangers you don’t even know. Take care of them while your missing holidays and family gatherings, but it’s what we love to do. We were called to do this job. I knew at 5 years old. ❤️
Thank you so much for helping those in need of support and care. I have many friends who were also trained to care for others, and they are suffering due to the long hours and some couldn’t imagine this was what they signed up for as a profession.
Thank you both for traveling into the hot zone to save lives and helping those who save lives. You are an inspiration to us all.
It’s definitely tough. On our days off we mostly sleep, due to just having to catch up on rest to try and stay healthy and not get sick. Thank you for the sweet comment and support!
Angels. Thank you.
So welcome! Anything we can do to help!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!
Sending much love, be safe!
Thank you and for the gratitude! We are doing our best to stay well and safe. Thanks for the support :/)
I’m impressed!!
Thank you to you both.
Your so welcome! That is for the support!
Thank you so much for coming and helping (and I’m so glad this time the UWS greeted and welcomed you properly!).
Everyone has been great. We appreciate all the gratitude and support!
So glad these two came here, and that they’re getting a chance to see a bit of our beautiful and amazing city. I just hope they’ll get a chance to come back and see us again sometime when we’re a little more together — there’s so much of the city that they won’t get to experience right now, and hope someday they’ll see all of it!
We definitely want to come back with things get back to a “semi-normal” so we can experience more, but everyone has been so nice and thankful. Thank you for the support and gratitude !
Wow. After all the nastiness of the past 3 1/2 years it is so refreshing to read of goodness being shared on both sides of our nation.
The nurses are just what I know of nurses… they are ANGELS!!!
Their neighbors and cheerleaders are just what I’ve always known of Americans, GREAT PEOPLE! N
We love everyone and everyone needs support and help. There is a whole world of people that just need love and happiness and peace and we try to bring that where we go. Thank you so much for the gratitude!
Thankyou and Bless you. You two are the best of America! If only our sparring politicians would set aside their differences and care about people half as much as you do, we would be a stronger nation for it. Character counts!
I 100% agree that character is a huge part of trust and success. Thank you for your support and gratitude. ❤️
I have tears in my eyes reading this.
Thank you for coming and thank you for printing this.
Thank you for your kind words and we are thankful, they took the time and effort to recognize us on the upper west side. ❤️
Thank you Skylar and Chelsei.
We are all so grateful!!
And we are grateful for the gratitude. Thanks guys!
Thank you so much!
Welcome to NYC and THANK YOU!
Thank you!
Wow. THANK YOU! I hope that Chelsei and Skylar have access to West Side Rag, so they can read the outpouring of gratitude and love that is being posted here.
They sent us the link and every-time someone comments it makes us smile in the hard times! ❤️
I’m in love with both you. Thank you kindly for all your work.
Thank you so much!
This is so incredibly selfless and heartwarming.
Thank you, ladies!! You are both heroes. And welcome to the neighborhood!!
We just feel we are doing what we were called to do. Thank you so much for kind words.
From a neighbor on 69th Street:
Thank you both so much for your kindness and heroism.
We hope you hear our cheers at 7pm each evening- they are for you
We definitely hear the cheers and love to hear them, especially the little bit we are at home ❤️
Thank you Skylar and Chelsei!!! You are what the world needs right now. Selfless human beings who do the right thing no matter the cost to yourselves. Welcome to New York City, Welcome to the Upper West Side and thank you, thank you, thank you for coming to our aid in our hour of need.
Skylar and I thank you all so much for the wonderful and uplifting comments! We have so much gratitude for all of you! We thank you all also! Thank you all for welcoming us into the West Side and for being so kind! It won’t be our last trip! We hope to come back when things are semi-normal again! Love to you all!!
Chelsei and Skylar
Thank you, Skylar and Chelsei, for your selflessness and generosity, for leaving your home and families behind temporarily to help New Yorkers. We are so grateful!
Stay safe; we hope you can come back to enjoy all this amazing city has to offer when things get better.
Thank you for the support and gratitude and we appreciate the kind words! Thank you so much! ❤️
Skylar and Chelsei, welcome to the block from your MS “neighbor” and a UNA alum. It’s not limited to southerners, but I am not surprised to see this spirit in you as it is such a part of our heritage. I am grateful for others having an opportunity to see it and for the care and warmth you are bringing to your patients. After many years, what I miss most about the South, I think, is a home with more than one room that provides the chance to socialize in a home vs in a public space. And I wish I could serve you some of my Mamaw’s banana pudding……. The pick in my soda-drinking days was Dr. Pepper. Hope you can continue to find some Coke for fun refreshment.
I chime in with the other voices of welcome and wish you well during your stay.
Thank you so much. So sweet of you lol. We are thankful for you.
This made me cry. You two are absolute mensches. I cannot think of a bigger compliment. Your parents did a great job. Awe inspiring. Thank you so so very much for caring and doing.
Thank you so much, what a wonderful compliment! ❤️
Thank you so much ❤️ We are so thankful to everyone!
LOVE OUR BLOCK! Thank you!
We love your block too! Feels like home!!
You are two amazing women and we are so thankful to have your help and to have you in the neighborhood. I hope you come back to see visit NYC when it’s back to normal. Many thanks to you and your families for the sacrifices you made to help us.
We cannot wait to come visit when things open back up and get back to semi-Norma! We love the city and the gratitude!
You are heroes. NYC ❤️ You
No hero’s, just two girls with so much love for others. We love all of you and all the amazing comments!
So wonderful. Reflects what America has always strived to be: generous, loving, and open to new experiences.
Thank you, ladies!
We have a heart that is open to everyone and love everyone. We are so grateful to see NY and cannot wait to come back!
Fantastic story! God bless them.I assume their rent is being picked up by the hospital if not I’m ready to help.
Unfortunately our rent has to be paid out of our salary and we didn’t realize NYC had such high living expenses. That’s so sweet of you to offer to help. We were hoping we didn’t have to move from the current place we are at, due to having all the expenses of the Uber’s to get to work. Thank you all for being so kind and generous.
This is Chelsei’s mother. Her rent is not paid by the hospital they are paying out of their salary but she went because she wanted to help and felt that’s where she was needed most. As her mother I appreciate all the kind words everyone has commented on her and Skylar. Her daughter and I miss her very much but we understand she’s doing what she was called to do and we are very proud of her. I’ve sat and cried happy tears reading everyone’s comments. Again thank y’all so much.
Please let us know if you would like meals or food or seamless delivery gift cards dropped off! Are you craving something but don’t have the time to look for it? We’re here! The UWS is a community that wants to help where we can and although we could never even begin to repay you both for the gift you are giving our state, we are here for anything that might make the upper west feel a bit more like home. Truly, I would be happy to provide anything to my best ability. Even more earplugs for hours you’re home and sleeping! I can drop anything off in the lobby of the building! 🤗 Thank you again for your amazing service!
Thank you so much for your generosity! We love the UWS! Everyone has been amazing to us. I know we are where we are supposed to be.
Thank you so much ladies!! NYC is so grateful to both of you 🙂
And we are grateful also for all of the generosity. We love NY. We feel like we both have a second family!
Thank you Skylar and Chelsei!!! WELCOME to the neighborhood; we wish you here anytime (especially when the city is back up and running!)
We have already talked about it! Due to this being our first trip. Cannot wait to see when everything is open. ❤️
Thank you, ladies, for all of your efforts! I am from Alabama and live on the Upper West Side. Please let me know if I can assist you in any way! Much love and appreciation!
Oh wow! That’s awesome! I can see why you would love the UWS. ❤️ Thank you!
Chelsei, please reach out if you need anything!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
You have gone above and beyond! And for this we are grateful.
Nice to have you in the neighborhood1
We are just happy to be able to help in a time of need. We were needed here most! Thank you.
Great writeup! The table is superb. Really lets me see all the providers side by side, making it super easy to compare!
She really did a great write up and thankful for WSR.
Love this! ♡♡♡
❤️
Skylar and Chelsei, we can never thank you enough! Beautiful girls, we salute you!!!
We are thankful also for all the kindness shown. We love the people here. Everyone has been so kind and helpful.
I cried when I read your post. Words can not express the gratitude for your service. You exemplify the America that I grew up in. The America that is enshrined in “ONE NATION”–Thank you for your service, Thank you for caring, Please stay well, and one day we hope you will return so we can throw one of our famous “block parties” in your honor.
Would would love to come back and enjoy a block party and see everyone! We cannot wait to come back when everything is open. Thank you all for the kindness you are showing through the comments. We are one Nation and one world. Thankful I grew up and had my families support in anything I have done in life. I am thankful.
Great work WSR creating and quickly maxing the GoFundMe campaign. Skylar and Chelsei are here until at least June. Please up the campaign goal so we can give them some money to enjoy NYC as much as possible – such as ordering from neighborhood restaurants – and perhaps giving them some funds to begin saving for returning to us in happier times with their families.
Thank you UWS for being so kind to my daughter Chelsei and her friend Skylar. I cannot even begin to express my gratitude for how loving and kind you have been to them. You have eased the hurt of her being away from us because I no longer feel like they are in a big city alone. They have a whole community supporting them and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thanks to you that did this article on them so I know now they are ok. Much love from Alabama, Chelsei’s mom ❤️❤️❤️
Hi, For some reason the comments on the rent fundraiser is closed. Thank you Chelsei and Skylar for your tremendous public service! We are very grateful. Do you know that you shouldn’t be paying rent at all? NYC.gov offers free hotels to health care workers. You can learn more here: https://www1.nyc.gov/site/helpnownyc/get-help/covid-19-hotel-program.page