Dallas bids farewell to Ebola-infected nurse: ‘We love you, Nina’

Nina Pham is accustomed to caring for patients in isolation — people with tuberculosis, pneumonia, flu, MRSA. Late last month she was summoned by the medical team caring for the nation’s first Ebola patient and, as she later told a colleague, asked to be “his primary nurse.”

“They have an entire unit of ICU nurses and she was selected because she is brilliant and she is able to handle these very intense situations calmly,” said Jennifer Joseph, a former nurse at the hospital.

Pham agreed, Joseph said, because she felt a duty to help patients.

“She said this is what we were called to do; it doesn’t matter who they are,” Joseph, 25, said.

While her patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, 42, has come to represent the tragedy of Ebola in the United States, for many the 26-year-old nurse symbolizes America’s determination to defeat the disease.

Pham became the first person to contract the deadly disease on U.S. soil, and on Thursday, days after she was diagnosed and isolated at the hospital where she works, was flown to a National Institutes of Health hospital in Maryland. On Friday morning her condition was listed as “stable and resting comfortably.”

A second nurse infected with Ebola, Amber Vinson, 29, was transferred Wednesday to Atlanta.

On Thursday afternoon, as an ambulance was escorted from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital to the airport, scores of Pham’s co-workers, many wearing blue scrubs, lined the hospital exit to see her off, holding up brightly colored posters as they clapped, waved and cheered.

Friends said Pham had embraced the dangerous job, knowing the risks.

“She was not scared to care for Mr. Duncan,” said Kim Tran, a friend of Pham’s mother. “She said, ‘Mom, don’t worry about me — the hospital is taking care of all of us, the nurses.’”

Tran added: “Even at the risk of being on the unit she did not back out. She did not hesitate.”

Joseph said Pham initially didn’t talk much about Duncan’s care due to patient confidentiality, but once he allowed the hospital to release more information, she opened up a bit. He became her sole patient, although other nurses worked in the unit as well.

“She told me about some of the interactions she had and told me he was nice,” Joseph said. “She was essentially his only friend during those last days.”

The daughter of political refugees from Vietnam, Pham grew up in the Bentley Village subdivision of Fort Worth, the oldest of three girls. Her mother worked in healthcare and her father ran a fried chicken restaurant, then a computer repair business, friends said.

Pham graduated from Nolan Catholic High School in 2006, then the accelerated nursing program at Texas Christian in Fort Worth in 2010, and went to work at Texas Health Presbyterian. She moved into an apartment in the M Streets neighborhood of East Dallas, got a boyfriend and a rescue dog, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel she named after the neighborhood where she grew up, Bentley.

Her family was active at Our Lady of Fatima, a largely Vietnamese Roman Catholic church, where friends gathered this week to pray for the young nurse. Supporters have sent her Bible verses and prayers, which she appreciates, Joseph said — part of the reason she chose to work at the Presbyterian hospital is because it’s faith-based.

It came as no surprise to Joseph that Pham was selected to care for Duncan. She described her friend and nursing mentor as “calm and meticulous.” She’s also stylish, with a wry sense of humor; detail-oriented and hard-working, but also social.

Joseph described co-workers at Texas Health Presbyterian as a collegial group who often socialize outside of work — Pham would help organize dinners out, bowling trips and housewarming parties. Last spring, she and Pham had taken a trip to San Francisco, visiting Alcatraz, Fishermen’s Wharf and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Pham especially trusted the doctors she worked with in the intensive care unit, Joseph said.

“Nina is very close with some of them. They see her as almost a daughter,” Joseph said. “The doctors know they rely on her.”

Her boyfriend, who has not been identified beyond the fact that he works at Alcon, a Fort Worth-based eye care company, has also been admitted to the hospital and was being monitored in isolation, a family friend said.

Pham’s apartment was roped off with police tape this week, then decontaminated by a hazmat team as public health officials distributed Ebola educational materials to her neighbors. The team removed Bentley, taking the dog to an undisclosed location. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins has said he is aware that the spaniel is precious to Pham, and promised that Bentley will be well cared for.

The decontamination efforts have come at a cost. Among the items authorities destroyed: Pham’s clothes, shoes, furniture and Macbook which contained her photos, Joseph said. She’s wondering about a David Yurman necklace her mother gave her.

“I was just talking to Nina about how all her clothes and bags were burned,” said Joseph, adding that Pham is known for an “amazing sense of fashion.” Pham had recently purchased a pricey Tory Burch purse with her bonus money.

“They burned it,” Joseph said.

Austin-based jewelry designer Kendra Scott has reached out to the nurse (Pham is a fan). A longtime friend and former Catholic school classmate, Sarah Strittmatter, 26, created a fundraising website for Pham’s family, which by Thursday had already exceeded its initial goal of $20,000 -- raising more than $72,600.

“She is genuine, selfless, and a true friend. She loves adventures, traveling, helping others, and a good challenge. She sees beauty in so many things, and believes in and supports others with a ferocity that is unforgettable,” Strittmatter wrote of the nurse, who has been one of her best friends since third grade.

On Thursday evening, Texas Health Presbyterian released a video of Pham in her hospital room before her departure for Maryland. “Thanks for being part of the volunteer team to take care of our first patient,” says Dr. Gary Weinstein, her treating physician, wearing full protective gear. “We’re really proud of you.”

Pham begins to tear up and he hands her a tissue.

“I love you, guys,” she says, wiping her eyes.

“We love you, Nina.”

Twitter: Follow @mollyhf for national news.

Times staff writer Anh Do in Los Angeles contributed to this report.