Nurse Practitioner Becomes COVID-19 Patient

In early April of 2020, Nurse Practitioner Stan Leffew contracted COVID-19 and was admitted to BSA hospital. Needing to be intubated, Leffew required the care of his former colleagues in the BSA Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

“I know that many of [the staff] were lifting me in prayer as well as taking care of me,” Leffew shared. “They [were] the hands of that miracle that I received, and for that, they will always be dear to my heart.”

Despite a career within the medical field, Leffew was shocked to see how the COVID-19 virus impacts healthcare workers on the frontline.

“During my time as an ICU nurse, we never had to deal with organisms that wreaked such havoc,” Leffew said. “When the story is all told, and we are past COVID-19, medical teams will be remembered as the ones who sacrificed and put themselves and their families in danger.”

As a patient whose life was saved by healthcare workers, Leffew recognizes the emotional battle caretakers are continuing to fight.

“They went through the emotional turmoil of losing so many patients; yet, continued to persevere because what they do is vitally important,” Leffew shared. “As a survivor of COVID-19, they will forever have my respect. I want to thank the doctors, but especially, I want to thank all of the nursing and respiratory staff at BSA for my recovery. I consider myself to be one who received a miracle of God, and they were the hands of that miracle.”

If you are experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, or have been exposed to the virus please visit bsahs.org/covidtesting for testing information. For more information about COVID-19 visit bsahs.org/coronavirus.