INDIANAPOLIS – There wasn’t a dry eye in the room as a woman who spent more than a month away from her husband while battling COVID-19 reunited with him.
Joyce Hoffman was in the COVID-19 unit at Hooverwood Living for five weeks. She tested positive for the coronavirus on May 1 and turned 90 on May 31. On Thursday, June 11, she was released and allowed to see her husband, Don Hoffman
The reunion is heartwarming and Hooverwood posted video of it. When Don, who’s holding a bouquet of flowers, sees Joyce, he can’t really put it into words.
“Oh, all right. All right, all right,” he says. “Oh, honey!”
The staff at Hooverwood claps and cheers.
“I have to cry from happiness. I have to cry!” Don, also 90, says. “You look so wonderful! You look so beautiful!”
“How can you be so cute?” Joyce asks.
The Hoffmans have been married for 67 years. Joyce’s COVID-19 separation was the first time they’ve ever been apart.
Brittany Scheidt with Hooverwood Living said the staff planned it as a surprise.
“After every resident ‘graduates’ from our COVID unit, all of our staff gather to celebrate and have a parade for them,” Scheidt said in an email. “This celebration was incredibly special because we planned a surprise reunion for Joyce and Don—he didn’t know she was coming back yesterday.”
Scheidt said the five-week separation was “extremely hard” on the couple. The reunion is something the staff won’t soon forget.
“There wasn’t a dry eye in the building yesterday! It was a special moment that we will all remember forever at Hooverwood.”
