VANCOUVER -- When Dr. Sandy Pitfield saw a Twitter appeal from New York’s governor asking medical professionals who weren’t needed at home to come to the Big Apple to help at overrun hospitals, the Vancouver anesthesiologist answered the call.

"It seemed like locally things were under control, my personal workload was a little bit on the lower side because of the surgery cancellations," said Pitfield. "My background prior to being an anesthesiologist was in pediatric intensive care. So I felt that for the time being at least, my skills were better put to use there than here."

He arrived on April 5, and was assigned to New York Presbyterian Hospital in Queens.

"I just kind of showed up and started working," said Pitfield.

The hospital’s ICU has a normal capacity of 12 beds. It had expanded to care for 120 critical care patients with COVID-19.

"There’s patients absolutely everywhere in the hospital, every little nook and cranny had a patient in it," Pitfield said.

The Vancouver doctor helped care for critically ill patients on ventilators. Fewer than 30 per cent survived.

"This was a reflection of the inability of a health-care system to meet the needs of the patients that we were looking after," he said. "You also see the burden of disease in the staff as well, and so a number of times I’d come face to face with symptomatic staff who are nervous about their own health.”

While many of his patients died, there were some bright spots.

"They did play 'Don’t Stop Believing' over the loudspeaker system every time someone was discharged," said Pitfield. While he got a little tired of the iconic Journey song, he said "it was always a nice reminder that we were making some progress."

After eight days volunteering in the intensive care unit at New York Presbyterian, Pitfield flew home to Vancouver on Tuesday.

"As I was leaving after my last shift there, it was with mixed emotions. It's obviously nice to come home where my family is, where my friends are. But I felt like I was kind of deserting them in their time of need. It’s just really messy there right now," Pitfield said.

He said B.C. health authorities could learn from his experience in an overwhelmed New York hospital.

“The real limitation on our ability to look after these patients was the human resource, specifically nurses,” said Pitfield.

Rather than focusing on acquiring more ventilators or building temporary hospitals, he’d like to see B.C. ensure nurses here are healthy and aren’t overworked.

"They’re the backbone of the ICU," said Pitfield.

He tested negative for the virus on Tuesday, but Pitfield is still self-isolating for two weeks before returning to work at Vancouver General Hospital on April 28. His time in New York is giving the father of three a new appreciation for his health and family, and a new respect for the virus that’s taking so many lives.