AGH celebrates first COVID-19 patient now off ventilator

May 19, 2020

Kyleigh Panetta,

BERLIN, Md. – Atlantic General Hospital is sharing details behind a now viral video online that shows the celebration for a COVID-19 patient who came off a ventilator on Monday.

A spokesperson for the hospital says some of the nurses, who cared for Jose Perez Reyes, came up with the idea to celebrate him being sent back home.

“They had grown quite attached to him, and decided to celebrate his return to good health with this. The send-off was all their idea. Clinical and administrative staff came down to cheer him on. We pulled up a Spanish version of the song ‘Celebration’ and played it over the PA as he was leaving, which you can barely hear over the cheering,” says Sarah Yonker, the director of marketing for Atlantic General Hospital.

AGH caregivers gathered this afternoon to celebrate our first COVID-19 patient who came off the ventilator!

Posted by Atlantic General Hospital on Monday, May 18, 2020

Comments poured in on the Facebook video with some saying, “This is something to celebrate!!! So proud and happy.”

The video of the celebration is on Atlantic General’s Facebook page and it now has 32,000 views. Click here to see the full video.