Responding to COVID-19 During My National Guard Service
By Nekoro Gomes, NYCHA’s Department of Communications
As a member of NYCHA’s Department of Communications, a large part of my job calls for being able to find the right words to convey what’s happening across the Authority’s more than 300 developments at any given time. That task involves quickly sourcing, verifying, and accurately relaying information to the media and the general public.
And yet, when I found out that my New York Army National Guard Unit – the 133rd Quartermaster Supply Company – had been mobilized to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic in its early stages in New York City, I really didn’t know what to say.
I had only been a member of my unit for less than a year after finishing Basic Training the previous summer and I had always assumed that my first deployment would involve a natural disaster or overseas mission, not a global health crisis that was reshaping every aspect of life for New York City – and NYCHA residents – in real time.
When my National Guard unit was activated on March 18, our mission was to help repurpose the Javits Center as a temporary hospital and medical supply warehouse. We were able to assemble more than 500 hospital beds in two days and helped convert the convention center into a depot for dispatching personal protective equipment, wheelchairs, ventilators, and other medical supplies throughout the state.
One day in late March, we were told to head upstairs for what most of the soldiers thought would be a typical formation or work assignment. Instead, it turned out to be a direct address from Governor Andrew Cuomo during a press conference.
During that speech, Governor Cuomo told us that our work would be long and arduous, but that we represented the very best of the Empire State. The experience was one of the proudest moments of my life.
Not long after the Governor’s speech, my unit was transferred to Albany to work more closely with the New York State Division of Homeland Security & Emergency Services, as well as the New York State Office of General Services, to convert a commercial venting equipment plant into another warehouse for receiving and distributing medical supplies.
The warehouse specifically received medical supplies from various corporations, foundations, private citizens, and other entities. It was a truly awe-inspiring sight to see medical supplies from every brand and organization you could think of: the NBA, Apple, Salesforce, Tito’s Vodka, and Estee Lauder, among many, many others.
In addition to receiving and tracking inventory of the medical supplies we received, the most important aspect of my work with the 133rd National Guard Unit involved shipping out needed medical supplies to the different hospitals, emergency management offices, fire departments, and government agencies that needed them – and every time that I saw a New York City destination, I hoped that the supplies were being used to help ensure the safety of a front-line responder or public housing resident.
On July 21, my mission responding to COVID-19 came to an end and I was out-processed from my unit to return home. I am forever grateful for being called to do my part on behalf of the city, state, and country.
Photo caption: Nekoro Gomes (left) at Manhattan’s Javits Center in March, listening to an address by Governor Andrew Cuomo, who praised the National Guard’s efforts in responding to COVID-19.
