Quincy nurse recovering from coronavirus receives hero’s welcome upon return home
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REPORTER: IT WAS NO ORDINARY TRIP HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL. THIS WAS MORE LIKE A PARADE. YOU CAN IMAGINE HOW THAT LIFTED THE SPIRITS OF AN ER NURSE WHO IS RECOVERING FROM THE CORONAVIRUS. A HERO’S HOMECOMING FOR ER NURSE AND RECOVERING COVID-19 PATIENT DEBBY BUONOPANE. SHE’S BACK FROM THE BRIGHAM, AND BACK FROM THE BRINK.>> I FEEL A LOT BETTER. IT WAS A REALLY BAD TIME. REPORTER DEBBIE SPENT NINE DAYS AS A PATIENT AT BRIGHAM AND WOMEN’S THE VERY HOSPITAL WHERE SHE WORKS. TODAY, SHE WAS FINALLY DISCHARGED. A POLICE ESCORT HOME TO QUINCY WHERE THE ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD WAS WAITING.>> THANK YOU, OFFICERS FOR THE RIDE. I’VE NEVER GOT HOME SO FAR FROM — SO FAST FROM THE BRIGHAM. REPORTER: DEBBY VOCALIZED HER HAPPINESS, BUT CAN’T SHOW HER AFFECTION JUST YET, BECAUSE SHE MIGHT STILL BE CARRYING THE VIRUS.>> THERE’S MY MOM. HI M HI MA. MY MOM IS, NO I CAN’T HUG YOU, MO MY MOM’S 85, AND I’M SO HAPPY THAT SHE DIDN’T HAVE TO BURY M REPORTER YOU HAVE TO HAVE –>> YOU HAVE TO HAVE FAITH, AND I HAD FAITH THAT SHE WOULDN’T DIE. SHE’S A FIGHTER.>> UNFORTUNATELY SHE GOT IT, AND SHE HAD TO HEAL FROM IT, BUT SHE’S A STRONG WOMAN. SHE SURVIVED IT. REPORTER: NOT ONLY DID DEBBIE BUONOPANE SURVIVE COVID, SHE ALSO BEAT BREAST CANCER YEARS AGO. NOW SHE IS DETERMINED TO ONE DAY SOON RETURN TO THE HOSPITAL AND CARE FOR OTHER PATIENTS WITH THE SAME COMPASSION AND KINDNESS THAT HER COLLEAGUES SHOWED HER.>> IT WAS SO HARD FOR ME TO NOT BE ABLE TO GET UP AND BRUSH MY OWN HAIR, BRUSH MY OWN TEETH. ONE NIGHT, A NURSE CAME IN AND SHE BRUSHED MY HAIR OUT FOR ME. I COULDN’T EVEN BREATHE, AND SHE WAS SO, THEY’RE ALL SO GOOD REPORTER: DEBBIE SAID SEVERAL TIMES TODAY HOW BAD SHE FEELS FOR COVID PATIENTS WHO DID NOT MAKE IT HOME AND HOW CONCERNED SHE IS FOR THE PATIENT’S STILL IN THE HOSPITAL. SHE WILL BE BACK IN THE ER AT THE BRIGHAM AS SOON AS SHE IS FULLY RECOVERED. . WE CERTAINLY HOPE THAT’S SOON.
Quincy nurse recovering from coronavirus receives hero’s welcome upon return home
A Massachusetts nurse who has survived a coronavirus infection received a heartwarming show of support from her community.Debbie Buonopane, an emergency room nurse at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, was discharged from the hospital where she works Thursday afternoon after spending nine days there as a COVID-19 patient.She got a police escort to her Quincy home and the whole neighborhood was there to welcome her back when she arrived.”Brigham and Women’s and the nurses and the doctors did a great job to get me back here with my husband,” Buonopane said. “I feel so grateful. I’m so grateful that I’m able to breathe. I feel very bad for those who didn’t make it home.”Before her battle with COVID-19, Buonopane, a Navy veteran, lost a brother to cancer in December after beating breast cancer herself years ago.”You have to have faith, and I had faith that she wouldn’t die,” said Anne Buonopane, Debbie Buonopane’s mother. “She’s a fighter.””Unfortunately she got it, and she had to heal from it, but she’s a strong woman,” said Nicholas Buonopane, Debbie Buonopane’s son. “She survived it.”Debbie Buonopane said she feels a lot better and is eager to go back to work at Brigham and Women’s after a period of recovery at home.
QUINCY, Mass. —
A Massachusetts nurse who has survived a coronavirus infection received a heartwarming show of support from her community.
Debbie Buonopane, an emergency room nurse at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, was discharged from the hospital where she works Thursday afternoon after spending nine days there as a COVID-19 patient.
She got a police escort to her Quincy home and the whole neighborhood was there to welcome her back when she arrived.
“Brigham and Women’s and the nurses and the doctors did a great job to get me back here with my husband,” Buonopane said. “I feel so grateful. I’m so grateful that I’m able to breathe. I feel very bad for those who didn’t make it home.”
Before her battle with COVID-19, Buonopane, a Navy veteran, lost a brother to cancer in December after beating breast cancer herself years ago.
“You have to have faith, and I had faith that she wouldn’t die,” said Anne Buonopane, Debbie Buonopane’s mother. “She’s a fighter.”
“Unfortunately she got it, and she had to heal from it, but she’s a strong woman,” said Nicholas Buonopane, Debbie Buonopane’s son. “She survived it.”
Debbie Buonopane said she feels a lot better and is eager to go back to work at Brigham and Women’s after a period of recovery at home.
