Essential hospitals across the United States are doing their part to save not only their patients’ lives — but also their love lives.
In New Orleans, one couple’s big day was made possible by essential hospital staff. When Yolanda Welsh was admitted to University Medical Center in April and diagnosed with stage 5 kidney disease, she immediately started looking into the possibility of marrying her fiance at the hospital. When hospital staff learned of Welsh’s plans, they reserved the hospital’s chapel, worked with the chaplains to quickly find a minister, and provided the couple with a veil, guest book, wedding bouquet, toasting glasses, and more – all in less than 48 hours. In addition, a member of the hospital’s staff choir sang as Welsh walked down the aisle.
Meanwhile, another couple in Virginia got their happy ending — even after the groom lost a leg and broke his pelvis, shoulder, ribs, and sternum in a motorcycle accident. After that near-death experience, the couple moved their wedding up and got a new venue: VCU Medical Center. And an expectant mother who was hospitalized with complications on her wedding day was still able to get married thanks to the staff at University of Kansas Hospital.
Essential hospitals also are ensuring that parents of the bride and groom don’t miss their children’s big day.
One Stony Brook University Hospital patient already had bought a plane ticket and dress for her son’s wedding before she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. In March, doctors warned against flying because of her compromised immune system, but that didn’t mean she had to miss the ceremony. The engaged couple took advice from nurses at Stony Brook’s bone marrow transplant unit and organized a wedding ceremony in the hospital’s chapel. In lieu of wedding gifts, the family asked people to be screened and add their name to the bone-marrow registry.