When the coronavirus outbreak began, and Rachel Hartley’s hospital started canceling elective surgeries, the anesthesia pre-op nurse knew where she could be more helpful: New York City.

She contacted a nursing recruiter and subsequently signed a contract with New York University (NYU) Langone Hospital in Brooklyn. Instead of seeking traditional housing, she and her husband embarked on a 35-hour trip from Virginia to New York in their 50-foot sailboat.

They invited other traveling nurses to live on the boat with them. On her first day working in the intensive care unit (ICU), cases were mounting and the hospital was overwhelmed with sick and dying COVID-19 patients, according to Yahoo! Life. Hartley’s contract ends in early June but says she would be happy to stay longer and continue to treat coronavirus patients.