(CNN) — A dinner date in a hospital brought together a couple — married for 63 years — that had been separated by Covid-19.
Frank Martinez, 93, and Mansako “Terry” Martinez, 86, were placed in different areas of St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon, Illinois to be treated for the coronavirus, according to CNN affiliate KMOV.
Surging cases have resulted in an overwhelming number of patients for hospitals. As of Tuesday, 92,880 people were hospitalized with the virus in the US, according to the Covid Tracking Project. That rate has improved in recent weeks, but still, staff is stretched thin and many patients have not been allowed to have visitors.
“Colleagues at HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital have seen firsthand how the safety precautions and visitor guidelines have affected patients this entire year during the pandemic,” the hospital said Saturday in a statement on Facebook, in which it shared a photograph of the couple.
So when a family member mentioned that the veteran of World War II, Korea and Vietnam and his wife were inseparable and depended on one another, their nurses found a way to bring them together, KMOV reported.
Nurses Hannah Schlemer and Kim Presson treated them to a “dinner date” so they could see each other, hold hands and eat dinner together, the station said.
“Just as they have done for so many years,” the hospital said.
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