Getting a triumphant sendoff

Eugene “Gene” Pouliot had just returned home from a vacation to Cancun with his wife and several friends when he started feeling a little bit under the weather.

By this time, the global COVID-19 pandemic had taken over the public conscience. Pouliot, a retiree who had a lawn service business for nearly four decades, experienced relatively mild symptoms like coughing, aches, pains and a low fever that gradually worsened over the following week or so. Finally, at the behest of his wife Kris, Pouliot went to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital’s Emergency Department.

It was then and there that Pouliot found out that he was positive for COVID-19. He was admitted that night. After three long weeks of inpatient monitoring and care, including time spent on a ventilator, Pouliot was discharged from Advocate Good Samaritan. He was the hospital’s 100^th COVID-19 patient discharge.

“[Having COVID-19] is an experience I would never go through again,” Pouliot says. “During my stay at Good Sam, everyone was fantastic. I couldn’t have been happier.”

It was an emotional sendoff as nurses, physicians and support services team members lined the hallways to cheer and celebrate his triumphant recovery. Upon his exit, he was reunited with his wife, Kris. As a parting gesture, Pouliot released balloons to signify hope for the remaining patients undergoing treatment at Advocate Good Samaritan and for the nurses and doctors working to save them.

Pouliot is now spending his time at home continuing his recovery. He is active and building his strength every day.

“We [at Advocate Good Samaritan] were all so happy to see him going home after everything he had been through, including being ventilated in the critical care unit,” says Libby Black, a nurse who was part of Pouliot’s care team. “We were all in tears seeing him and his wife in that huge embrace. It’s great to have some good news in the midst of these very challenging times.”