NEW YORK - Nancy Dubin wasn’t always a cantor at Temple Am Echad. Eleven years ago she wore a much different uniform.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit, Nancy dusted off her scrubs and came out of retirement to answer the call to join Med Surge nurses on the frontlines. 

“I think a lot of us thought, ‘What do we do? We just stay at home and do nothing and that’s supposed to help?’ And I’m grateful that I was able to do something, anything," Dubin said.

Nancy signed up with Therapia Nursing and was placed at Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn. Throughout April, she worked long hours during the height of the crisis.

“The nurses at Interfaith Hospital were amazing. They nurtured me back into what I could do. And I was able to help because they helped me," Dubin said.

Nancy remembers the days as some of the most difficult in her entire career of being a certified nurse.

“Nothing could have prepared me, nothing. I had never been so scared to walk into work," Dubin said.

During the physically draining days, Nancy provided comfort not only to the patients she was attending but also to her fellow nurses. 

“They were, as a group, able to hold it together. And they just kept going in, valiantly, and doing their job," Dubin said.

After such a personal experience with COVID patients, Nancy took to Instagram to remind people that wearing masks is a simple choice with a huge outcome.

“It’s so easy to put on a mask and protect somebody who is more vulnerable. It’s a piece of cloth and it saves lives," Dubin said.

Nancy continues to raise her voice as a message of hope. And with synagogue doors still closed, she sings for an online congregation from the inside the Temple.

So, for spreading messages of comfort virtually, physically, and spiritually during such an isolated time, Nancy Dubin is our New Yorker of the Week.