Source: Hudson Reporter
A COVID-19 patient who spent 22 days on a ventilator Hudson Regional Hospital in Secaucus has been discharged.
Pedro Gonzalez, age 19, apparently starting feeling sick on March 14. By March 18, his primary care doctor told him to go to Hudson Regional Hospital because they had the test. He was admitted immediately and by the next day he was in ICU struggling to breathe, ultimately intubated, and put on a ventilator. Normally, the hospital refrains from rushing to put patients on ventilators until absolutely necessary, underlining the severity of Gonzalez’s case.
Meanwhile, his wife Victoria reached out to everyone she knew to pray to him via social media, the 99.1 Star radio station, and a national rosary hotline. On Easter morning, their prayers were answered: Gonzalez’s doctor called Victoria screaming that he was off the ventilator. She got to FaceTime with her husband via a nurse’s phone.
“With all my heart I want to say thank you to everyone at Hudson Regional hospital for all their hard work and dedication and for keeping me alive,” Gonzalez said at a facility briefing. “God bless you all.”
“Seeing Pedro recover and go home to his family after being on a ventilator for 22 days was very uplifting and inspirational to everyone in the hospital,” says the hospital’s president and CEO Dr. Nizar Kifaieh.
According to Dr. Kifaieh, the hospital has begun to resume business in other departments as the pandemic becomes more manageable. The number of patients recovering from the virus at the hospital and subsequently discharged has increased over the past two weeks. In conjunction, COVID-19 related admissions has decreased by 80 percent, and more patients with non-COVID-19 issues are starting to use the hospital’s Emergency Room again.
In collaboration with the Hudson County Department of Health, the hospital is also preparing a program to administer the IGG and IGM antibody tests to begin upon guidance from the CDC. Antibodies from the plasma of COVID-19 survivors may hold the key to discovering a cure or vaccine for the virus.
“Globally, we have seen the unpredictable way this virus has affected patients and the random manor in which certain patients would develop certain complications,” Dr. Kifaeih said. “We still are lacking the ability to scientifically explain the behavior of the virus and its clinical manifestations on patients.”
Any Hudson County residents experiencing COVID-19 symptoms are advised to call 201-388-1097 or 646-862-1161 for a pre-screening in order to get tested at Hudson Regional Hospital in Secaucus. The drive-thru testing site continues to operate Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. by appointment only.
The hospital is still seeking additional help during the pandemic. Any interested volunteers with nursing backgrounds can call (201) 392-3100 for more information.