BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — A 35-year veteran of the Boston Police Department says he’s alive and recovering today thanks to the heroic efforts of the South Shore Hospital medical team.
On April 2, 64-year old Captain John Greland was at home in Hanover suffering from uncontrollable coughing and a fever of just under 104 degrees. An ambulance rushed him to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with double pneumonia and COVID-19. He says he thought he was going to die. After eight days of aggressive treatment, including IV antibiotics and the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, nurses stood and applauded as he was wheeled by their station Friday after being released.
First responders, such as medical workers and police officers, bear the brunt of exposure risk to the coronavirus. Ten Massachusetts State Police troopers so far have tested positive for COVID-19. And at the District E-13 station in Jamaica Plain where Greland works, he says a number of officers tested positive around the same time he did.
Now he’s 20 pounds lighter, still short of breath, and says he walks and feels like he’s 90. But his doctors say his prognosis is good, and he expects to be back at work when he’s fully recovered. Greland says he has such a deep appreciation for the doctors and nurses who saved his life. “I will never look at a medical worker in the same way," he told WBZ NewsRadio. "Every time they came into my room, they were risking their lives. They are doing wondrous things."
WBZ NewsRadio's Shari Small reports:
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