Milwaukee VA Medical Center
Sweet homecomoing for coronavirus survivor
Joseph Williams greets his family outside the Milwaukee VA hospital.
Health care workers throughout the Milwaukee VA lined the hallways at a social distance Friday morning to bid farewell to Joseph Williams, a coronavirus patient who had been hospitalized since March 27.
Williams’ large extended family waited outside, while his sisters met him at the elevator to take him home.
The Army Veteran spent two weeks on a ventilator while here, and his family said it was touch and go.
“Its’so wonderful,” his sister, Sally Williams, said. “We have missed him tremendously and it has been March since I have seen my brother. Thank you, God. Thank everyone here at the VA hospital. You did an awesome job. At one time we thought our brother was going that way, but God and the prayers brought him back this way.
“And we love you for everything you did.”
As staff wheeled him off the elevator, Williams was greeted with applause and handshakes from those who took care of him.
“Thank you, thank you,” he said. “Thank you all. You all are the best.”
He told news crews he felt great and was looking forward to getting home.
“They are the best here. They got me through it,” he said. “This is one of the best VAs in the nation. They have one of the best crews here. And I thank the lord and the VA hospital very much.
“It ain’t no joke,” he said of the coronavirus. “When they say you’re positive, you’re positive, stay home. Because I didn’t know where I got it from. If they say you’re positive stay away from everybody.”
Even more family greeted him with shouts and applause as Williams took it all in.
“Give your daddy some love!” he said.
