Amid coronavirus pandemic, man's note to hospital staff who saved wife goes viral

MORRISTOWN, N.J. -- A man in Morristown, N.J., has gone viral after he was spotted holding a sign thanking medical staff for “saving wife’s life.”

NJ Man Holds Sign Thanks Medical Staff for Saving Wife-credit Allison Swendsen-Atlantic Health System



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 comes 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.”