it sounds interesting. "nightline" is next. thank you for watching, goodnight. this is "nightline." >> tonight, covid catastrophe. the people of india crying for help. >> hospital no more beds, no more beds. >> the coronavirus ravaging the second most populous country in the world. and here at home we're with the doctors r racing against time t get help to desperate loved ones overseas. >> it's worse than anything i could have imagined. >> where america stands in shipping the covid-19 vaccine t reflecting on service and sacrifice. >> we're fixers, you know. our job is to fix people's problems, not to have problems ourselves. >> pushed to the brink.

who do our frontline warriors call for help when they're the ones in need? >> we can't call 911 because we are 911. there is no backup. >> "nightline" will be right back. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ does scrubbing feel like a workout? scrub less with dawn platinum. its superior formula breaks down and removes up to 99% of tough grease and food residue faster. so you scrub less. tackle grease wherever it shows up. scrub less. save more. with dawn. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ hey google, turn up the heat.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ thanks for joining us. tonight as america finds its way to a new normal, the covid

crisis deepening overseas in india. desperately looking for oxygen and vaccines. the coronavirus a crushing blow to the nation of nearly 1.4 billion people. now the doctors in america helping friends and family any way they can. but is it enough? here is "nightline's" ashan singh. >> the first thing i smelled is smoke. the problem here is way bigger than anything anybody realizes at this moment. >> that smoke coming from the funeral pyres set up in india, cremating bodies so frequently that some authorities have had to cut down trees in parks to use as kindling for the fires. the second most populous country in the world buckling under the weight of the sick and dying. people gasping for air on the street. this man attempting to revive >> hospital no more beds..- no more beds. >> we have patients who areing . they're not finding any hospital. they just wanted oxygen.

>> reporter: this video showing family members fanning their loved ones with towels, a desperate attempt to keep them alive. the numbers are staggering. almost 20 million confirmed cases, over 200,000 dead. and nearly 370,000 cases in the past 24 hours alone. last night, 24 patients died in a single hospital because of oxygen shortages. india now accounts for one in every two global daily cases of covid-19. >> i did not expect anything this catastrophic. i think all of us have been taken aback by just how bad things are. >> reporter: india is running short on the covid vaccine. russia donated some of its doses india, which will allow the country to make over 20 million doses. >> there is a new variant that is arisen from india. this variant is pretty widespread in india. when the numbers started rising, the policymakers of india did not respond. they continued to hold large

rally, have lots and lots of big events. and unfortunately, all of that contributed to the spread. >> reporter: late last week, the first american planes carrying desperately needed supplies, including oxygen finally arriving in india. president biden offering even more help. >> we'll be able to send actual vaccines to india, which would be my intention to do. >> reporter: cries for help coming from millions of indians in the united states watching the catastrophe from afar. >> yeah, so this is only part of the story. >> reporter: including this doctor. she helped treat the very first covid positive patient admitted in chicago's northwestern memorial hospital 14 months ago, and was part of the team that performed the country's first post covid double lung transplant. >> i really thought that things were going to get better from here on out. >> reporter: but today, between her patients at the hospital, the infectious disease specialist is responding to messages from her family members and friends in india, desperate for her guidance. >> how you guys feeling?

>> we're good. >> they send me their lab reports and ask me what these labs mean. we look at their medications. >> yeah, i saw your dad's medicine list. it was very long. also, should they leave the house to get the vaccine? is it really worth it to risk their lives out there to get the vaccine. >> does it feel like deja vu from the height of the pandemic when you were kind of dealing with the worst of the worst? >> yes, but it's worse than anything i could have ever imagined. >> a lot of people are still testing positive even if they're fully vaccinated. the initial goal is 15 days from a second shot. >> but you guys do say still you can get covid. >> it's really tough to go in every day and try to convince my patients to get the covid vaccine for them to say they're not interested or maybe they'll wait and see or they're not too sure about it right now, and meanwhile there are a billion in india who would love to be fully vaccinated, and they don't have those resources. >> reporter: in recent week,

already four of her family members and friends have passed away in india, with more recovering at home or in the hospital. what's your reaction when you hear that phone buzz now? >> i get a knot in my stomach. >> reporter: that same feeling of drug fills this woman even as she tries to surround herself with the comforts of home. here in new york, that means a cup of chai. >> there is something so nostalgic about smelling it when i'm home. >> reporter: when the pandemic hit last spring, it was her grandparents who kept her positive. >> we love to facetime. they would always put a smile on my face and make me feel better, which is why it's so devastating now that india is going through their own crisis, and i feel unable to be able to give them the support that they really need. >> reporter: do you feel like your hands are kind of tied behind your back? >> absolutely. >> reporter: her grandparents are currently battling covid-19. >> they are very independent. so the type of people who don't ask for help and they don't rely on people either. and that's what we've been

dealing with the past couple of days is just trying to connect with anyone on the ground. a lot of family members themselves have covid, and they're recovering. so we aren't able to rely on the support systems that we normally would have. >> reporter: you kind of called this virus an equalizer in a way. >> i've been seeing pleas from the most privileged folks, the most connected folks who are asking for plasma donations, who are asking for oxygen. and yeah, it definitely has been an equalizr. >> reporter: many communities in india are fending for themselves, feeling betray bade government they say hasn't done enough to combat the pandemic. it was just two months ago that india's ruling party declared the pandemic was over, with prime minister narendra modi holding large election rallies, despite urging caution in april as the company observed the festivals. >> for two months we've been seeing the data getting worse and worse, and the federal government, the central government of india largely just

ignored it. and therefore the indian government really does bear some large chunk of responsibility for not having acted more quickly on this. >> reporter: in the u.s., a vastly different picture. coronavirus cases dropping under 50,000 for the first time since october. in new york city today, 80,000 government workers returning to their offices. the state announcing full reopening for businesses on may 19th. >> we're ready. we're ready. >> i'm ready. we're ready. >> reporter: as life begins to return to normal in the u.s., the government not taking any chances on the variant spreading here. at midnight tonight, the u.s. bans most travelers from india, except for american citizens. >> travel bans like this can slow down the spread of a disease from one country to another. it never prevents it, because, again, the borders are porous. we should not see it as some panacea that protects the american people from what's happening elsewhere. >> reporter: while over 100 million americans are now fully

vaccinated, the fight to get even more americans vaccinated is still an ongoing challenge. demand for vaccines has plunged 12% in the past week. across the country, new incentives to get the shot, from free beer to free donuts with proof of vaccination. detroit paying $50 to people who offer rides to vaccination sites. >>my plea to everyone, get vaccinated now. please. >> reporter: experts say vaccination is the only way out. >> until the whole world is vaccinated, we're going to be dealing with a lot of problems. >> india is a big, beautiful country, and i know it seems far away, but really, it affects every single one of us. these peo stastic to aepl meretn' or to anybody e indian american or the fabric of our lives. >> our thanks to ashan. coming up, coping with untold trauma. riding along with the emts on the front lines of the pandemic.

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as we step out, bay area, lets step up our march towards social justice and health equity. join aids walk san francisco live at home, streaming on may 16. register today aidswalk.net running to the danger zone, the emts responding to the horrors of the pandemic. but the horrors they see and hear on the front lines oftentimes hidden away. now the health care warriors in austin, texas revealing the trauma they can't seem to get out of their minds. here is abc's marcus moore. >> they say as paramedics, your most important time is your downtime. what do you do when you're not at work?

because that keeps us healthy. >> reporter: for nella la fuente, these everyday moments with her family are not only precious, but necessary. >> eat your food. >> if we have a healthy life outside of work, then we can maintain a healthy life at work. >> district 5, proceed. >> reporter: she has been working as an emt for almost 20 years. now a field commander in the austin-travis county medical services unit. on the front lines, responding to covid calls, and behind the scenes volunteering as a team leader in the department's peer support group. for medics like neta, the group is a vital way to process the situations they encounter so often on the job. its goal? destigmatizing the mental health crises they so often face. >> as a leader, my job is not only to serve the patients, but now my responsibility is to serve my paramedics, my medics. i just focus on one task at a time. >> when it's 7:30 in the morning and you're rushing out the door

saying bye to your husband and your kiddo, what do you think about most in those moments when you're to be start your day? >> i think about making sure that my day is as safe as possible so that i can come back. >> reporter: her fears are more than valid. in austin, more than 50,000 covid-19 cases have been reported. >> that's where you can infect yourself. we used to have these really elaborate zip-up suits, and when you take those off, that's higher risk than the gown. >> reporter: you had multiple layers of gloves and face. >> we wear the face shield in case we're going to do aerosolizing treatments. since this patient was a covid positive and there is a possibility we have to give her a neb or assist her in ventilation, she is covid positive and has an extensive history, she is stable right now. >> reporter: so her and the other medics' work is twofold. caring for others and make sure they care for themselves.

>> it's hard as a medic to kind of look at yourself and say hey, i need help. we kind of go to the extreme and then we realize that our limb is broken and we need to get help too. >> reporter: ems is one of the most fulfilling jobs that you can absolutely do. and full transparency, it's a profession that really does kind of tear at you. >> all right, on three. >> reporter: daniel owens and his partner andre are also austin-travis county emts. they've been running emergency services before the pandemic began, and together they have seen it all. >> we were dealing with covid in march, picking up extra shifts. i have an amazing wife named jessica, and i also have two boy, ages 6 and 4 who are an absolute joy to be around. >> reporter: last march, daniel made the difficult decision to live away from his family in order to keep them safe. >> when jessica and the kids left and we decided we'd just ride out, you know, two or three weeks until things kind of got

under control. things never got under control. >> this is the boys' room. i am really missing them tonight. if you want to feel like a million bucks after you have just a horrible, cruddy shift, come home to two boys who think that you're just the man who hung the moon or just think you're an absolute hero. >> reporter: underneath the sheer exhaustion of the job and all the stress that goes with it, there lies something rarely discussed, trauma. >> we can't call 911 because we are nine 911. there is no backup. it's really hard running these calls. we're hoping for two or three hours to get some sleep, and it just doesn't happen. we have created this false machismo. if you start having cumulative stress, it's because you're weak. for most medics in the profession, it's going to come at a great cost. >> reporter: in 2015, two of his medics died by suicide in response, the department launched the peer support program, one of several initiatives focusing on mental

health and wellness. dr. tanya glenn specializes in treating severe stress and trauma. she has worked with first responders in the aftermath of the oklahoma city bombing, 9/11, and hurricane katrina. she launched the paramedic peer support program in austin and several other states in order the break the stigma associated with trauma. you have to break the silence around it. >> first responders will not go to therapy if there is a paper trail, if there is a diagnosis attached to their name. so i proposed this program to put my practice on a separate contract with a specialty of dealing with first responder issues, and that i would submit an invoice once a month with no names on the invoice. >> reporter: people want to stay anonymous because is that fear that somebody is going to hold your struggles against you in a professional setting. what a peer support team does, it creates this bubble of trust because it's someone who works in the same profession as you. it's someone who is not going to go on an administrative tear and try to take away your job.

>> r point in neta's career, she experienced symptoms of ptsd. she says she was able to better able to cope with the compounded stress and trauma after talking to dr. glenn. have you ever experienced ptsd from a call? >> when my son was born, something turned on inside of me where i was constantly anxious and looking for things that may happen. i've been on lots of calls where the baby died because the parent slept while they were holding their baby. and then whoever wanted to hold my baby, i would watch them. i couldn't get my eyes off them because i was afraid they'll fall asleep, even though it was broad daylight. >> reporter: so how did you cope? >> i started asking my family and my peers like is this normal? because i'm a first-time mom. to bring it to my attention. they said out of the thousand times that somebody does something, you see that one time where it went wrong. >> post traumaic stress disorder is when an individual

is exposed to a stress trauma so extreme, it's beyond their human coping capacity. >> usually when we think of ptsd, we think of soldiers. >> right. >> reporter: but anyone can suffer from ptsd, right? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: neta has an additional layer of stress. she is one of the very few women leading the team in a field traditionally dominated by men. >> statistically, being a woman and being a woman of color, i'm outnumbered. as a woman, you know, your voice has to be a little stronger, and you have to have a little bit more of a presence to get that attention. and it's not just from our department. it's society in general. >> an elderly patient that's wife is covid positive. >> i did get great news. i'm pregnant. >> where is the baby's heart beat? >> right there. >> oh, yeah. >> we just finished the

ultrasound. everything looks great. i'm so excited. >> reporter: for neta and her fellow front line heroes, success is not just measured by how many lives ths they save, b how they maintain their own. >> our thanks to marcus. up next, how one former nba cheerleader is teaching young children that they are enough. pain doesn't care how old you are. or what color you are. pain doesn't care if you live in a small town or in the spotlight. pain has no limits. that means we need care without limits. care like a parent with a newborn. care like we took an oath. care that's strong, fast and safe. that's care without limits. ♪

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- ( phone ringing ) - get details on this state program visit right now or call during business hours. and finally tonight, camp is in session. for former nba cheerleader erika j. kendrick, sometimes the biggest battles happen within. >> when i was a chicago bulls cheerleader, i was struggling with bipolar disorder, but i wasn't ready to embrace it. >> erika now helping young people care for their own mental health, writing the book "squad goals: a novel focusing on a middle schooler who learns to embrace her inner imagine, a message erika hopes to share far and wide.

>> i want kids to know it's perfectly okay to not be okay, that they are enough. they're good enough. they're smart enough, that they are enough. >> and that's true inner magic. that's "nightline." you can watch our full episodes on hulu. we'll see you back here same time tomorrow. thanks for staying up with us. good night, america.