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By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer

An Isabella High School graduate with five years of nursing experience is headed to New York to assist in an ICU.

Registered Nurse Kimberly Littleton, who now lives in Shelby County, has signed an eight-week contract to work at NYU Winthrop.

Littleton is leaving for New York on April 11 and is scheduled to return on June 7, unless she is no longer needed before that.

“I am excited and nervous, but I am looking forward to going and seeing if I can help make a difference, even if it is just a tiny one,” Littleton said.

Littleton said she had first thought about going to New York to work in a hospital to assist in the COVID-19 crisis about three weeks ago.

“I just saw that they were in the most need,” Littleton said. “… They are getting hit the worst. I work in the Cath Lab at Shelby (Hospital in Alabaster), so we do mostly elective procedures, so when this hit, and they canceled all of the elective procedures we really weren’t getting any hours at work.”

She said this created “the perfect opportunity” to go to New York to help in a hospital there.

“I really didn’t want to go by myself … so I just kind of put it off, and then one of my best friends texted me April 1,” Littleton said.

The text was from Courtney Waters asking Littleton if she wanted to go to New York with her.

Littleton saw this as the chance to go and have someone she knew on the journey with her.

“We started contacting recruiters and talked with our families, and everything fell into place,” Littleton said.

The nurses connected with the contract opportunity through Aya Healthcare.

Littleton said she has talked to a nurse that is already working in New York and is researching coronavirus, the situation in New York and ways to boost her immune system in preparation for the trip.

She said she is also praying a lot.

However, she said just what she will experience on a day-to-day basis “we won’t really know until we get there.

She said she has also received donations of N95 masks to take with her from friends and acquaintances who have found out that she is going.