Jackson Memorial Hospital Nurse, Who Battled COVID For 3 Months, Urges Vaccinations

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Carlos Olano, 64, works at Jackson Memorial Hospital but spent the last months there as a patient after testing positive for the virus.

"When I first came out to the floor, I never thought I was going to leave," Olano said Friday morning.

"I never thought I was going to leave the way I am, going home."

Olano was unvaccinated but said he wasn't opposed to it.

He said he hadn't been able to get the vaccine yet after dealing with repeated cases of bronchitis.He even said he'd been planning to get the vaccine the week he tested positive.

The nurse and husband of 27 years spent three months in the hospital and were intubated for 26 days.

His recovery included re-learning basic things like how to walk.

"Just to sit up and put your clothes on and brush your teeth and go to the bathroom, it was very difficult at first," said Jennifer Gomez, Olano's occupational therapist.

On Friday, Olano headed home to the cheers of his doctors and nurses at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

He now has a message for everyone to get vaccinated, he said.

"The message is you should go ahead and do it," Olano said Friday. "Don't wait."