Jackson Memorial employee released after 9 months hospitalized with COVID-19

MIAMI – A healthcare worker who battled COVID-19 in the hospital for 9 months is getting home just in time for the holidays.

Rosa Felipe, a 41-year-old electroencephalography (EEG) technician at Jackson Memorial Hospital, was reunited with her family Tuesday.

“The only thing I can tell you is that this is real,” an emotional Felipe said after walking out the hospital doors. “[Coronavirus] is real. The effects are real. But what’s more real is the love that I have received here, the dedication from my doctors and the staff here. ... I don’t think I would have gotten this far if I wasn’t at this rehabilitation center.”

Felipe caught the virus in March and got really sick on top of her existing health issues of diabetes and asthma. She was hospitalized at Jackson Memorial — her workplace of 15 years — where she was intubated.

During two months in the ICU, she underwent an intense treatment that took over for her lung and heart functions. Felipe’s fingers on her right hand turned black, and doctors say she will likely lose her fingertips.

In June, She was briefly discharged, but she was rushed back after becoming septic due to a bleeding ulcer. Once stabilized, doctors say Felipe began her journey to recovery.

Felipe, who considers herself a walking miracle, hopes to one day return to working at the hospital where her life was saved.