As the fast-rising tide of sick people overwhelms hospitals and infects the doctors and nurses delivering care, officials across the country and around the world have asked retired health care workers to help reinforce systems in crisis. Raising their hands, they feel at once resolute and torn, weighing their expertise and desire to serve against their heightened vulnerabilities.

Thousands have answered the call. Here are a few of them.

Jane Bedell, 63, New York

Retired primary care doctor and former assistant commissioner for the Bronx Bureau of Neighborhood Health

I had my retirement party on Feb. 28. I was feeling so lucky. I’ve learned so much. I’ve been able to work with amazing people and to do some things that have been really good. And it turns out when you retire, people tell you things about yourself, ways that you had an effect, and they said just lovely things.

I thought I would be hiking with my partner and son in Wyoming right now. He talks about how wide open it is, how different from the Bronx, where we live. I was really looking forward to seeing the beauty of it through his eyes.

But so many things have changed. I’ve always wanted to make sure that I’m part of the solution and not part of the problem. So that means I’ve got to rearrange my thoughts about retirement. I signed up online on March 15.

I’m in a higher-than-average-risk group, so there’s a lot of concern from my family. Just age puts me at a modest risk. And I’m a fairly recent cancer survivor. I had surgery, radiation therapy and chemotherapy, and those things have an effect on your immune system.

But I am more than confident that we know enough to be able to safeguard health care workers and health care volunteers. I have skills to put to good use, especially in these troubled times.

I feel lucky that because I have a medical degree, I have a path to help out. It feels like a gift.

Juliana Morawski, 68, Crystal Lake, Ill.

Retired emergency room nurse

It was really hard to retire. Emergency medicine is a drug and it’s like withdrawing. We have the same camaraderie as cops and firefighters.

I think the reason I was so antsy to get back for this is because I’m still talking to the people that I worked with. They’re so overwhelmed, and you just don’t want to see your friends get hammered without helping. And when you hear the reports on the E.R. Facebook group — “We have no masks. We’re wearing our masks for 12-hour shifts or days or until they start to deteriorate” — you feel like you abandoned them and you can’t do anything.

Even if I went back to the hospital, they would not put me in the ER because of my age. I’m allegedly higher-risk. I told the director of public health here, “If you need any help, let me know.” She said, “Yeah, we need people on the phone.” That’s great. I can do something.

When we come into the call center, they check our temps and ask whether we have symptoms. Everybody has a little cubicle and a phone with the latest information in front of them. Of course, you wipe everything down. When I first started, the calls were mostly from physicians wanting to know whether they could get patients tested. There have been a few people that I really worried about. You’re thinking, “Oh God, I hope this one doesn’t end up with a respiratory arrest in the middle of the night.” Of course, you tell them, go to the ER if you can’t get your breath.

I feel like I’m able to do something. It’s not perfect. In my ideal world I’d be back in the ER.

Chuck Wright, 62, Carlsbad, Calif.

Retired family physician and embassy doctor in the Foreign Service

I retired about a year and a half ago and wanted to continue using my medical skills but in a volunteer capacity. So I joined lots of organizations. With the California Medical Assistance Team, I deployed last fall for the fires in California, providing medical care for the firefighters and taking care of people who were evacuated from their homes but had nowhere to go.

This came up, and so I volunteered to help with the COVID patients.

So far I’ve had two deployments with COVID.

People are really scared that health providers can get this and become sick. It’s in the back of my mind, to be honest. I know I’m in a higher risk. But even the people who aren’t at higher risk, there are so many health care workers doing this, hundreds of thousands. I’m sure all their families are worried about what they’re doing.

Ariel Alvarez, 68, New York

Semiretired nurse

I’ve done just about everything you can think of in terms of nursing: surgery, neonatal intensive care unit, ICU, burn unit. I retired from Mount Sinai about seven years ago.

My motivation for being a volunteer is 9/11. At the time, I was working in the surgical suite, but I was off that day. I remember watching the twin towers, and I said to my wife, “I need to go down to the hospital.” So I got there, and everybody available was standing around waiting for the victims to arrive. And no one came. I’ll never forget that feeling of helplessness that we couldn’t do anything.

Now with this situation, at least I’m able to actually participate and try to help. I’m waiting for a facility in the Bronx seeking volunteers.

My wife is very concerned. If she had the choice, she would not let me out of the house. So it’s a difficult choice for me, and it’s difficult for her to accept.

I’m thinking that they might put me in a less risky role because of my age. But because of my skills — ICU, isolation, ventilators — they could say, we need you. Of course, I would be somewhat skeptical, anxious. It’s not just me, it’s also my wife, my children, my grandchildren. But it’s something that I would feel obligated to do because it’s the right thing to do.

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