Ascension Seton holds Code Sunshine celebration for Austin couple who recovered from COVID-19

AUSTIN, Texas - An Austin couple, who both were hospitalized for COVID-19, have been released from Ascension Seton Medical Center under a Code Sunshine.

“Code Sunshine is really a celebration that we do for patients and really their families and for the staff when a patient with COVIDtThat's been here for a long time has been discharged home,” said clinical nursing manager Julie Zessin. 

Ascension Seton Medical Center has had several Code Sunshines, the most recent one being for former COVID-19 patient named Frances.

Nurses lined the hallway of the hospital to celebrate her recovery from the virus. Frances waved proudly with her daughter on FaceTime.

“Being able to see her come in and then get better progressively, and then get discharged home to her loved ones was just so touching,” said Zessin.

Frances' husband, Robert, was also in the hospital with COVID-19. Not even one full week later after his wife's recovery, Robert had his own Code Sunshine.

“Great to see both of them get better. It was really inspiring for us too because sometimes you don't always get to see patients get better,” said Zessin, who says Code Sunshines never get old. “I think it was our very first Code Sunshine in which we had a patient that had been in intensive care on a ventilator and she was the first patient to successfully come off the ventilator and was able to go home."

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Zessin says it's celebrations like this that remind her why she wanted to be a nurse in the first place.

“Sometimes you see patients come in at their very worst, and you care for them for that time, and for them to be able to go home and be a part of that has really become an important part of our role,” she said.

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