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A year later, a COVID-19 patient delivers message to healthcare heroes who saved him

Martindale, only 47-years old when he was admitted to the hospital in March of 2020, is now recovered and happy to be back.

FARMINGTON, Conn. — Jeff Martindale was celebrated in April of 2020 as the first patient at UConn Health to survive the effects of COVID-19 after being in the intensive care unit and on a ventilator. 

Martindale, only 47-years old when he was admitted to the hospital in March of 2020, is now recovered and happy to be back, working remotely at his job in a business unit at ESPN. 

“In some ways, this happened yesterday, and in some ways, it happened ten years ago,” Martindale said of his marathon fight against the Coronavirus. Nearly a year after Martindale returned to his Farmington home from the hospital, he was reminiscing about what he has endured and thanking the team that saved him. Martindale said, “I love everybody at that hospital, I’d go and give that building a big hug if I could.”

Martindale’s team at UConn Health included Yara Mendez, a Nurse who works in the ICU. 

“We’re so happy to see that Jeff is doing so well and sharing time with his family,” Mendez said. ICU nurse Suzanne Paranzino added, “It was one of the first cases (of COVID-19) I had and the outcome was great so I will never forget him.” 

Martindale, who lives in Farmington with his wife, Chandra, said “having survived and being here and fully recovered, I have joy – I have a second chance.”

   

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