By KELLI KENNEDY, Associated Press

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Their final breaths are tormented. Rublas Ruiz has seen too many of them -- the last gasps of 17 men and women who died of the coronavirus.

A 41-year-old ICU nurse in Miami’s Kendall Regional Medical Center, Ruiz has witnessed the desperate, pleading, wide-eyed, barely there gasps.

“The fear in their eyes when they can’t get enough air. They are so scared,” he says, quietly. “Their eyes are big, desperate to get the oxygen and that makes me so sad.”

He sits on their bed, grasps their hand, strokes their cheek and prays. Anything to soothe them.

“I know you cannot talk, but I’m going to talk to you,” he tell them. “You have to be positive, you have to have faith that God is going to get you out of this.”

Often, he ducks away to sob in the bathroom. It is a rare moment alone, when he can cast off the brave countenance.

Then he splashes water on his face and returns to the floor that has been his work home since March. While other nurses rotate in and out of the COVID-19 ICU unit to limit their exposure to the deadly virus, he’s asked to stay permanently.

It’s his calling.

“I’m here for them. This is what I was meant to do,” says Ruiz.

“Many nurses have left. They don’t want to deal with it, they’re afraid, they’re scared, they see other people getting infected.”