Hospital Makes Special Arrangements for Elderly Couple Who Can't Take Separation
Tom and Arnisteen Clark, from Fayetteville, Georgia, have hardly been apart from one another in their 68 years of marriage, according to a post on the Piedmont Fayette Hospital’s Facebook page. The only time they were separated was when Tom, an Army veteran, was stationed in Korea.
The couple was recently admitted to the orthopedic surgery floor of the Piedmont Fayette Hospital and it was particularly difficult for them because they had to stay in separate rooms. None of the rooms on that floor are built for double occupancy and so it is against state regulations to house two people in one of the private rooms.
“They couldn’t be together,” Charlsie Niemiec, the hospital’s social media specialist, told ABC News, “and it was clearly breaking their hearts.”
Photo of elderly couple holding hands at @PiedmontHealth hospital goes viral: http://t.co/lfOursVL0n via @USATODAY pic.twitter.com/fY4smONSKW
— Piedmont Healthcare (@PiedmontHealth) August 10, 2015
Seeing this, Tina Mann, Manager of the Orthopedics floor got help from the clinical staff to make a special arrangement for Tom, 96, to visit his wife, 92, in her room for several hours a day.
“I just can’t be away from her,” Tom Clark told hospital staff, according to the Facebook post, “she’s the finest woman in the world.”
The Clarks have both been released and moved to a rehab facility together.
Melissa McGlensey is the former News Editor at The Mighty. Her writing can also be seen in Ms. Magazine, on the Ms.Magazine blog and in The Huffington Post’s Good News, Comedy and Impact sections. Melissa is also a New York City comedian who does sketch, improv and stand up. She is passionate about social justice, politics, Thai food, literature, disability rights and more. She is currently in a long-distance relationship with her cat, Sneakers, who lives in California. You can follow her on twitter at @OhHeyMeliss.
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