It was May 8, 2020. Hundreds of family, friends and hospital workers cheered as Gregg Garfield left Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, headed home after a harrowing 64-day hospital stay where his chance of survival fell to 1%.
Garfield was one of the nation’s earliest COVID-19 patients and the first for the Burbank hospital. On Monday he returned to meet with hospital leaders and members of his care team — and to help celebrate Hospital Week by passing out doughnuts to employees during the early morning shift change.
Garfield was one of 13 friends and family who traveled to Northern Italy for a ski vacation as the COVID-19 was slowly beginning to spread.
He felt ill when he got home and isolated until he was so sick he headed to Providence Saint Joseph where doctors battled the effects of the virus as it attacked his major organs.
Critical care specialist Daniel Dea called him “our miracle patient.”
“As Garfield left that day three years ago, he shifted from zero to hero, urging the public to take the virus seriously,” said PSJMC spokesperson Patricia Aidem.
For Garfield’s perspective on his continuing recovery, visit his website at gregggarfield.com.
First published in the May 13 print issue of the Burbank Leader.
