'I love you all:' NJ man's sign thanking medical staff for saving wife brought ER 'to tears'
MORRISTOWN, N.J. - A man in Morristown, N.J., was spotted holding a sign thanking medical staff for “saving wife’s life" -- bringing medical staff "to tears."
The man, whose identity is unclear at this time, was seen through the back window of the emergency department at Morristown Medical Center.
“Thank you all in emergency for saving my wife’s life. I love you all,” read the sign. The man also appeared to be holding his hand over his heart.
While it’s not clear if the man’s wife was treated for the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, which has infected more than 4,000 people in The Garden State alone, the moment was touching nevertheless.
"This picture brought us all to tears. It's amazing to see not only the ER staff, but all the floors coming together during this challenging time. We couldn't do this without nurses, techs, residents, doctors, secretaries, registrars housekeeping," Paige Vander Vliet, a nurse in the Morristown Medical Center’s emergency department, who shared the photo with her sister-in-law, who later posted the image to Facebook, told The Daily Record.
"We don't know who the man is. We don't know who his wife is. The nurses happened to be there and took his picture,” Karen Zatorski, the senior public relations manager at Morristown Medical Center, told The Daily Record, adding the moment was “beautiful.”
The news came after a patient who recently recovered from the novel coronavirus went viral after leaving a touching message on the wall of his isolation room for the medical staff who helped care for him while he was in the ICU. During his stay at the Cleveland Clinic, the staff used the glass wall to communicate with the unidentified man to avoid the risk of COVID-19 contamination.
“This window has been the most impactful window in my life,” he wrote, in part. “On days when I watched you work hard to keep me and others alive, unable to thank you for the time that you poured into me -- and although I will probably never get the chance to pour that same love and support into you, I want you to know that I think you are all rockstars.”