The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Health system plants memorial garden to recall COVID patients
MIDDLETOWN — Middlesex Health Clinical Engineering Manager Mike Heusser recently planted a daffodil bulb for his father, Ronald, who died of COVID-19 in early 2020.
Several Middlesex Integrated Care Coordination employees planted daffodil bulbs for a colleague who lost a loved one due to the virus, and Dr. Alina Filozov, chief of infectious disease, thought of the many COVID-19 patients she’s treated throughout the pandemic as she dropped her bulb into its hole, according to a press release.
Employees planted about 300 daffodil bulbs in front of the health system’s Bengtson-Wood Building Sept. 30: Some were planted for Middlesex Hospital patients who died from COVID; while others were planted in memory of employees’ loved ones who died from COVID, the news release said.
“When the daffodils bloom, we will remember those who have passed,” Filozov said in a prepared statement. “It will be a sign of a brighter day.”
Heusser explained that the flowers will be a welcome sight when he arrives at work each day.
They will change the landscape and help to soften his memory of those rough few weeks when his father was fighting COVID-19, he said.
“I’m really happy to work for a place that does this,” Heusser said in the statement. “It’s very meaningful.”
The garden is made possible due to donations from Riggio’s Garden Center in Essex, Coughlin Service Corp., and Middlesex Health Patient Family Advisory Council.