Peers Raise $40K After Forest Hills ER Clerk's Coronavirus Death

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — Hospital workers at Long Island Jewish Forest Hills have raised more than $40,000 to support the family of their colleague Prea Nankieshore, an emergency room clerk who died last week from COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.

A GoFundMe campaign organized by Fazila Lalani and Amy Smith surpassed its $40,000 goal in just a week, garnering donations from nearly 600 people.

"She was a great loving mother and a well respected, hard working team member at the Forest Hills Emergency department," Lalani and Smith wrote.

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Nankieshore began working for Northwell Health, which runs LIJ Forest Hills, as a customer service representative in 2012. She transferred to LIJ Forest Hills in 2013 and started working as a clerk in the emergency department, according to a hospital spokesperson.

Nankieshore, 34, leaves behind 8-year-old twin boys, the New York Post reported. Her 66-year-old mother is fighting the virus in an intensive care unit and her father is at home trying to beat the disease, Nankieshore's sister told the Post last week.

"Our team at LIJ Forest Hills is a family that now mourns the loss of one of its own," Mary Curran, RN, chief nursing officer at LIJ Forest Hills, said in a statement. "But as we grieve, we will also persevere in caring for our patients with the grace and strength that Prea displayed day in and day out."

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