ST PAUL, Minnesota — It's been three months since M Health Fairview Bethesda Hospital in St. Paul transformed into one of the nation's only hospitals dedicated to COVID-19 care.
Rick Huggins of Eden Prairie was one of the first people admitted to Bethesda when it reopened as a COVID-19 hospital in March.
"It was a full 30 days on the ventilator. I ended up having nine blood transfusions and dialysis for my kidneys three times because they were shutting down. Then I went into what is called a cytokine storm where your immune system starts attacking your healthy tissue and organs," Huggins recalled.
Huggins, an avid cyclist, has no underlying health conditions. The 51-year-old said, "It just hit me really hard."
Huggins spent nearly two months at Bethesda. In May, before leaving the hospital to start rehabilitation, Huggins was wheeled down the hallway and presented with a service bell to ring. As he rang the bell, staff cheered him on.
"It's wonderful," said Alex Leal, a health unit coordinator with M Health Fairview Bethesda Hospital.
When Leal first started seeing people leave the hospital, he wanted to celebrate the moment. Leal came up with the idea of taking an old service bell found in a back drawer at Bethesda and turning it into a "discharge bell." On the bell, it says "Crushin' COVID-19."
"It's kind of evolved a little bit too since that initial celebration to kind of becoming a goal," Leal said.
Since opening as a COVID-19 hospital nearly 100 days ago, more than 350 patients have rang the bell.
"We want to hear the bell as much as the patient wants to hear the bell," Leal said.
"It was really emotional," Huggins recalled. "I hope that bell ringing meant as much to them as it did to me because I know they face a lot of challenges on the front line and they need the excitement and encouragement as much as the patient does."
The ceremony was so popular that hospital staff have added three more service bells and placed them in the hospital's other medical/surgical units. Staff also play "Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles each time a patient is discharged.
Huggins is now back at home. He's doing physical therapy every other day, trying to get his strength back.
Huggins said, "I'm very, very lucky and blessed to be here today."