PLYMOUTH, MASS. (WHDH) - Some local healthcare workers are stepping up in yet another way during this pandemic.
Vaccinated workers at Beth Isreal Deaconess Hospital are now volunteering to spend time with COVID-19 patients to offer them comfort during a tough time.
Kerri Hurley’s husband benefitted from the new program. She described the frightening moment when her husband James was driven off to the hospital, severely sick with the virus.
“When he left in the ambulance I was absolutely terrified,” she said. “I absolutely had no idea if I was going to see him again.”
Hurley followed the ambulance to Beth Israel Deaconess in Plymouth, where she spent five days in her car in the parking lot outside his hospital room.
“And I just said, ‘If you look out in the parking lot, I’m there. I will flash my lights, wave hi. I’m here,’ because he was so alone,” she said.
That is when Hurley met her guardian angel, Dr. Ben Moor.
“And I think we all ultimately need human contact. And patients need to know there’s somebody there who’s kind of on their side,” Moor explained.
After getting his second vaccination, he started volunteering.
“We’re able to talk and chat, and hold their hand, and sit there maybe watch TV… whatever…just those tiny things,” he said.
Moor kept Hurley informed about everything going on with James.
“He knew what my husband was going through, He knew how lonely he was,” Hurley said.
He has recruited more than 40 of his colleagues to volunteer to sit with other COVID patients after their shifts. All of them vaccinated and wearing full PPE.
James was able to leave the hospital after five days and hug his children again. His family is immensely grateful for Dr. Moor.
“Waiting for that little bit of information and so for Dr. Mokr to have called or texted and said hey, he’s doing ok … it meant the world,” Hurley said.
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