“I wouldn’t wish this experience on anybody, but I don’t think God could have put us in a better place. We had angels all around us at Clara Maass.”
Gladys Davis, mother of a recovered COVID-19 patient
“Can you imagine knowing your son is sick with a deadly illness, but you can’t go to see him? My son, Vallee, went to Clara Maass with COVID-19 on March 27, and by April 1 he had to be put on a ventilator. I was calling on God because I’m a believer, but I’m also human. God says just give it to him and leave it, but we always want to take it back, and it’s very hard.
Finally, one morning I went into the lobby at Clara Maass, and the security guard told me I couldn’t go up. I knew about the no-visitors policy, but still, as a mother, I just felt so helpless. The guard told me to sit down and she would get someone for me. While I was sitting there, sunlight beamed through the windows above the doors of the lobby, right into the chair where I was sitting, and I felt it go right through me. That’s when Joe [Wojtecki, Assistant Director of Patient Experience] came down. He gave me his number and promised he would be back in touch with me soon, and he was. Joe offered to do video calls so our family could see and talk to Val.
Even though Val was sedated and unresponsive, I could see that he was well taken care of. A group of eight or nine of us had a prayer group, and we would all be on the video call and pray together for him. Joe was a godsend and so was everyone else who works there. I would call several times a day, and the nurse would give me an update on my son’s condition. The case manager would call me. They played music in his room to stimulate him. They’d show me his face on the iPad and say, ‘He looks good, Mom, he looks good!’
Val’s 45th birthday was April 18th, and I couldn’t sleep at all the night before. I called first thing in the morning and the nurse said, ‘Mom, why are you worried? We’ve already given him a bath, we already sang Happy Birthday, we already prayed for him this morning.’ They had made birthday cards and put them up on the walls of his room. The doctors had been slowly cutting back on the sedation to begin weaning Val off the respirator. That very day, his birthday, he was taken off the ventilator and on April 30th he was released to rehab.
He’s basically doing well now, but he still has some recovering to do. We’re taking it one day at a time. Joe will forever be a part of our family. We’ve adopted him. We pray for Joe still, and all the people at Clara Maass, because of the work they do. Joe was a main contact between patients and families. It is such an intimate link, because he is there when people are pouring out their feelings. That’s a lot to have on you, but he always remained so pleasant and patient. When they say frontline workers are heroes, they are right.
They put their lives out there, but they still know how to treat families. They know this is your loved one, and they try to give you something to hold onto. I wouldn’t wish this experience on anybody, but I don’t think God could have put us in a better place. We had angels all around us at Clara Maass.”