Wisconsin couple recovered from coronavirus cheered by staff during discharge

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A Wisconsin couple who had been hospitalized due to the novel coronavirus was released earlier this month to the sound of applause and cheers from the medical staff who helped them recover.

Jeff and Cheryl Poole, who were both at one point in the ICU at UnityPoint Health Meriter, first went to the hospital in mid-March and had each required ventilator support, SWNS reported.

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“The fact that they both made it through and they can get home together, it’s just fabulous,” Beth Woodford, one of the hospital’s ICU nurses, told SWNS.

The couple, who promised to return to the hospital to thank the staff for saving their lives once the pandemic is over, want the public to know that the virus is a serious threat.

This is the heartwarming moment Jeff and Cheryl Poole left the hospital on the same day after recovering from COVID-19 as doctors and nurses cheered. (SWNS)

“People keep saying this is a fake, it’s not a fake,” Jeff Poole, 60, told SWNS. “She almost died. I almost died.”

Poole was able to dine with his 59-year-old wife before they were discharged, which Woodford said helped boost both of their moods.

“Of course being the wonderful person he is, Jeff gave Cheryl lots of words of encouragement,” she told SWNS. “They both talked about getting better.”

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As the pair were wheeled down the halls of the hospital on their way out on April 17, staff members lined the hall to clap and cheer on their recovery.

“The send-off we had for them was a bit of a surprise to them and to me too, honestly,” Dawn Cloutier, a nurse at the hospital told SWNS. “It was just so cool to have people cheering them on as they left.”

Hospitals across the country have adopted little traditions of playing a cheerful song when a coronavirus patient is discharged, such as “Here Comes the Sun” by the Beatles, or “Don’t Stop Believin” by Journey.

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Wisconsin has seen more than 6,500 cases of COVID-19 as of Thursday, and at least 308 deaths, according to the state’s health department. About 31 percent of the fatalities involve patients over 90.