ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Strong Memorial Hospital is getting a much needed staffing boost.

A team of New York City nurses will help in the hospital’s ICU over the next two weeks.

The state’s largest health system, Northwell, sent a team of nurses to Buffalo and Rochester to assist two of the largest hospitals in the region with surging COVID-19 cases, staffing shortages and high patient volumes, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Saturday.

It's a partnership that goes back to the early days of the pandemic.

“When we went to Northwell it was early on and we weren’t struggling that much,” Wendy Allen-Thompson, who was part of the team that worked at Northwell Health in March 2020, said. "But now here they are, coming to us when they are also struggling. It's amazing.”

The nurses arrived in Rochester Saturday. By Sunday morning, they were already going through an orientation introducing them to Strong’s hospital system.

Brendan McDermott is one of the eight Northwell nurses there. Even though COVID-19 is surging in Rochester, he said he didn't hesitate to come.

“I've been through the worst, the worst that could possibly be,” McDermott said. "It really comes down to when someone needs help we need to be there.”

The nurses will work 12 hours shifts, with just one day off during the two week period.

“We’re not being taught how to be nurses, just being taught how to fall into their way of doing things,” McDermott explained.

It’s all being done in an attempt to help reduce the number of COVID-19 patients in the hospital’s emergency department.

“The two week period is critical to add additional beds and get us to place were we have lower numbers ourselves,” said Karen Keady, the chief nursing executive at University of Rochester Medical Center.

The nurses will spend two weeks at Strong before returning to New York City, just in time for Christmas.