Alex Charlton never hesitated.

Not even for a second.

The moment he found out about the shortage of healthcare professionals needed in New York due to the overwhelming number of COVID-19 cases, he knew he had to put his nursing degree to use.

So he asked his boss, Midwestern State head football coach Bill Maskill, for approval.

Wait, a college football coach with a nursing degree?

There can’t be many – if any – other resumes like his around the country, but Charlton’s unique skillset allowed him to do something during this global pandemic that he knew was especially needed in the city that never sleeps: help.

Maskill, of course, approved. So Charlton, a wide receivers graduate assistant for the Mustangs in Wichita Falls, packed a bag and traveled to New York on Friday. He had orientation at Mount Sinai Hospital on Monday and has his first of 4-straight 12-hour shifts in the emergency department beginning at 7 a.m. on Wednesday.

“There are so many nurses out there doing this, so I’m just so happy to be a part of the thousands of healthcare workers out there doing this,” Charlton said.

Charlton saw that the nurse-to-patient ration in New York was 15-to-1, “which is not very safe.” So he knew he had to act and do so quickly.

“I just realized I had time on my hands because we weren’t going to be in the offices for football,” he said. “I just realized this was an opportunity for me to help people. It’s not just the patients you’re helping. You’re helping the doctors, the nurses and nurse’s assistants. They’re being over-worked and need help. When someone needs help, that’s an easy decision for me if I’m capable of helping.”

Reality set in for Charlton at orientation when he noticed how many Coronavirus patients were at Mount Sinai, one of the nation’s largest and most respected hospitals. Second thoughts were the furthest thing from his mind.

“I realize that I’m at a much higher risk of catching it,” he said. “I probably will just over time, one way or the other. Not necessarily because I did something wrong in the hospital. I just have a higher chance. But it just doesn’t bother me.

“I’ve had family members and people from around New York tell me that I’m risking my life. When someone tells you that you pause for a second, but then it just goes out the window. They just need help and it’s as simple as that. If you’re not going to help out then who is?”

It’s that type of drive and determination that landed Charlton on MSU’s coaching staff in the first place.

Charlton graduated from Kansas University in 2013 with a general studies degree and was part of the Jayhawks’ football staffs under Mark Mangino, Turner Gill and then in an official capacity with Charlie Weis as a player personnel assistant before becoming an offensive graduate assistant.

He knew coaching was his calling but thought that he might need a second degree given the uncertain nature of the profession.

“I looked at 500 options and I couldn’t find one that I thought, ‘You know, I could see myself doing that in 50 years,’” he said. “It was important for me to find a career I could come home from and be proud of. There are plenty of those professions out there. The moment someone told me about nursing, it clicked.”

Charlton graduated from the University of Missouri-Kansas City with a nursing degree in May 2018. He got a job as a nurse in the emergency room at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, while at the same time coaching under Justin Hoover at Shawnee Mission East High School in Prairie Village, KS.

“So I worked night shift (7 p.m. to 7 a.m.), go home and sleep, then go to practice,” he said. “I like being a nurse, but coaching is who I am.”

Charlton was happy with where he was at but wanted to see if he could add to his coaching resume. So he sent dozens of hand-written letters to coaches around the country seeing if they had a need for assistants.

‘Hey, I’ll pay my way to volunteer on your staff. I just want to get in the building.’

“A lot of them came up empty but I just kept plugging away,” he said. “It took a couple of years and eventually it clicked at Midwestern State.”

And it’s there where Coach Maskill knows he’s fortunate to have someone like Charlton on his staff.

“He sent me a text last Thursday that he had a chance to do this and I told him to go ahead and go,” Maskill said. “But I didn’t read the text that close, I guess. He’s from Kansas City and all I saw was the ‘C.’ I looked back at it after [a call] and saw it was ‘NYC.’ So I was a little bit surprised because I hadn’t thought that.

“That’s pretty admirable to give up his life for eight weeks to go up to New York City, the hotbed of this virus.”

Charlton, again, will be pulling double shifts. He’ll still be doing what he can for the football staff in New York while also triaging patients, starting IVs and getting the plan-of-care started for Coronavirus patients.

“The moment we’re able to go back in the offices, I’ll be there,” he said. “In the meantime, I’m going to help out as much as I can. If we can’t go into the offices in four months and New York no long needs my help but another city does, I’ll go there.”

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