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Banner T-bird discharges 1,000th COVID-treated patient

Glendale 1 of 2 Valley hospitals to reach milestone

Posted 9/14/20

Banner Thunderbird Medical Center, located at 5555 W. Thunderbird Road, in Glendale is one of two Valley hospitals that have discharged at least 1,000 patients after being treated for COVID-19.

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Banner T-bird discharges 1,000th COVID-treated patient

Glendale 1 of 2 Valley hospitals to reach milestone

Posted

Banner Thunderbird Medical Center, located at 5555 W. Thunderbird Road, in Glendale is one of two Valley hospitals that have discharged at least 1,000 patients after being treated for COVID-19.

The other is Banner Estrella Medical Center, 9201 W. Thomas Road, in west Phoenix.

Each recently discharged their respective milestone patients this past week.

Brian Aguayo returned home to Yuma after a 12-day stay at Banner Children’s at Thunderbird. The 17-year old was treated in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit for most of his stay, which included five days connected to a ventilator. The teen was the 1,000th COVID-19 patient to be discharged from that hospital.

“Oh yeah, I am ready to go home,” Brian stated in Banner news release.

While in the hospital, he was diagnosed with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children, a rare but serious complication associated with COVID-19 where different parts of the body, including the heart and brain, can become inflamed.

At Banner Estrella Medical Center, Maria Castillo-Gutierrez of Phoenix became the 1,000th COVID-19 patient discharged from that hospital. Staff celebrated her release by lining the hallways of the hospital and cheering as she left to return home to her family.

“I had a headache and I had nausea, but I didn’t know what I had,” Ms. Castillo-Gutierrez stated. “I thought I needed to come to the hospital and immediately.”

She spent five days at Banner Estrella. As a result of COVID-19, she will need to use oxygen to help with her breathing until her body is fully recovered from the effects of the virus

“We are exceptionally happy for Maria and exceptionally proud of the hundreds of doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists and other team members who’ve helped us save more than 1,000 lives from this disease,” Banner Estrella Medical Center chief medical officer Dr. Eric Katz stated.

As Arizona continues to see a drop in new confirmed cases of COVID-19, Banner Thunderbird Medical Center chief executive officer Debbie Flores encourages the public to remain vigilant.

“Keep you, yourself, and your family safe by masking up, washing your hands, keeping your social distancing,” she stated. “In a time when it feels like it might be over, people tend to get a little lax, so important that we continue to stay consistent.

“To know that you have saved 1,000 lives makes it so meaningful and makes it feel like your work was worth the effort that you put into it,” Ms. Flores stated.