Bend doctor in New York to help fight coronavirus pandemic

'It’s a little eerie. It’s a little like science fiction.'

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- New York has been battling the worst coronavirus outbreak in the United States, with more than 260,000 cases and 15,000 deaths. Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently called out to doctors and nurses across the country for help, and one emergency medicine physician from Bend answered.

Dr. Cornelius "Woody" Peeples of Bend told NewsChannel 21 Friday it's a strange scene in New York hospitals and acute care facilities right now.

"It's not unlike a regular ICU -- there are always a lot of patients on ventilators, but not rooms full of people on ventilators,” Peeples said. “That's bizarre and unusual, and nobody's used to seeing that."

With no major surges in Central Oregon, Peeple's local group of emergency physicians gave him permission to travel across the country last Saturday. Since then, he's worked the standard 12 1/2-hour shift, every single day.

Peeples has been assisting more than just coronavirus patients, but he says there's limited space for those with other emergency medical issues.

"I just transferred an acute heart attack to another hospital about 10 minutes ago that we couldn't take care of here because we don't have any place to put non-COVID patients," Peeples said.

When Peeples first arrived in New York, he was working in the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center, which has been turned into a satellite hospital.

As the week went on, that facility had ample staff, and emergency specialists like Peeples were needed more in actual hospitals.

"Outlying hospitals all over New York needed help,” Peeples said. “They had doctors down, they had short staff, they had more patients than they could deal with in their emergency departments."

Now, Peeples is at NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, where all units have been turned into COVID units. He said he knows doctors at the facility who have contracted the virus since he's been there.

Peeples is no stranger to helping out during a crisis. He was in Iraq two years ago, providing emergency medical attention to soldiers and civilians. He said being on the front line fighting this pandemic is completely different, but can still be dangerous.

"There's no way to avoid being exposed to a certain extent, and that's why so many doctors all over the world have gotten sick and died,” Peeples said. “My job isn't just to protect the people and save the people that are in front of me, but to save people or protect people that are around me."

Peeples said there's no way to quickly eliminate this virus from the world, and the best way to stop the spread is through social distancing. With that in mind, he has a message for those who are not following those guidelines by holding rallies in Redmond and across the country.

"Get ready, because you're going to get sick,” Peeples warned. “Some of you are going to get sick and not even know it, spread it to other people, so that's dangerous, and a little bit selfish. Some of you are going to get sick and hospitalized, and some of you are going to die."

Peeples said he has no idea when this pandemic may be over, but he will stay in New York to help out through May.