VIDEO: COVID-19 patient plays violin to thank doctors in US
A combo image shows Grover Wilhelmsen playing the violin.
A retired orchestra teacher battling COVID-19 has won the hearts of millions of people around with his positivity after playing the violin to thank the doctors and staff at McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Grover Wilhelmsen, 70, wanted to do something to give back to his caregivers at hospital.
The feeble patient could speak to the doctors so he started using pen and paper to communicate with them.
A doctor said Wilhelmsen asked for his violin so that he could play and thanked them for taking care of him.
An RN at the hospital, Ciara Sase was taking care of Grover when she learned about his idea of playing.
Ciara says Wilhelmsen was communicating with her on a piece of paper.
One day, he told me, “You know, I really want to play here at the hospital. What do you think about my wife bringing in my violin and viola?”
Ciara and her coworkers hatched a plan to get the instruments into the COVID ward.
The team agreed that Ciara should stay in his room to watch all his lines and tubes are connected.
Wilhelmsen’s wife, Diana, brought both his violin and viola into the hospital.
Wilhelmsen not only played, he played for a few hours for two days in a row.
ICU rooms in all the hospitals are airtight glass doors that are kept shut.
And Wilhelmsen wanted all the staff to hear the music.
Ciara quickly turned on her communication device so her colleagues could hear Wilhelmsen playing through the glass.
Ciara said, “It brought tears to my eyes. For all the staff to see a patient doing this while intubated was unbelievable.” Ciara added that playing kind of helped to soothe his nerves and brought him back to the moment.
