When Michael Hoover learned that his father, Greg, was unable to leave the intensive care unit at Penn State Hershey Medical Center to attend Michael’s wedding, he and his fiancée decided to bring the wedding to his father.
Medical Center staff rallied around the cause, with several departments contributing to the special day.
The hospital’s valet parking arranged for Michael to pull up to the main doors with fiancée Kelsey Kennedy, their best man, maid of honor, and Kennedy’s parents on Friday afternoon, Sept. 25.
Nurse care coordinator Helen Papeika decorated a conference room across the hall from Greg’s sixth-floor room with flowers, tulle, and a large heart balloon, donated by the hospital gift shop.
Claire de Boer, director of the hospital’s Center Stage arts in health care program, arranged the couple’s processional and recessional song choices. Second-year medical student Victoria Jones played the traditional songs on a keyboard in the corner.
Nurses helped Fran Hoover get her husband into his suit and slide his wedding band back on. He was transported to the conference room with a portable monitor with staff monitoring him from the hall during the short service.
Once vows had been exchanged, Greg looked up with a smile and clasped his son’s hand to congratulate him. Papeika wore a second hat as wedding photographer to help the family document the event and snap the standard family group shots.
Read more about this special wedding in this Penn State Medicine article.