Menchu sanchez biography of williams

Monday, Oct. 29, was a normal night for NYU Langone Medical Center transport nurse Menchu Sanchez, even as hurricane-force winds funneled through the streets and 12-foot waves from the East River crashed against Manhattan’s coastline.

At 8 p.m., when lights went out after the hospital’s back-up generator failed, Sanchez and medical staff were at a crossroads.

During a two-hour deliberation on how to transport the sickest baby in the hospital, a premature and ventilated infant with a rotten bowel, a confident nurse just shy of five feet tall took the lead.

“I told the doctors, ‘Can I hold the baby [on the way] down, I’m going to hold the baby down,’” Sanchez said.

“They said, ‘No we cannot do that because it’s not allowed, that’s not the protocol.’ But then I said … ‘This is the only way we can bring the baby down safely and effectively.’”

Around 10 p.m., with several staff members, Sanchez began the descent down nine flights