CHP Employee Welcomed Back Home After Hospitalization For Coronavirus
SUISUN CITY (CBS13) - California Highway Patrol employee Dwayne Potts was allowed to go home Monday afternoon after he was hospitalized with coronavirus symptoms.
Potts' friends and family eagerly worked on "welcome home" signs Monday as he was discharged from Kaiser-Vacaville.
"We had suspected that with the symptoms he had endured in the prior days. So it was disappointing to know that. But, at the same time, it gave a different fear," Cindy Potts, Dwyane's wife, said.
Cindy Potts told CBS13 that he has been with CHP for 30 years, being assigned to the Planning and Safety team at headquarters for two of those years. Friends said he's also a youth baseball coach in the Suisun City area and a loving father.
Pure joy came across Potts' mind when she got word her husband was cleared to be discharged.
READ: Restaurant Survival: 'We're Scrambling To Change Our Business Model'
"We were elated but at the same time thankful. Thanking God that he brought them through this. We're not out of the woods yet," Potts said.
Potts wife, children, friends and colleagues at CHP all packed his Suisun City cul-de-sac waiting for him as soon as they found out he was homeward bound.
Sereptha Williams-Thompson and Jeffery Galloway organized an effort to get plenty of friends and other first responders to greet Potts.
"We just wanted to show our love and support for him because not everybody has been as fortunate as he has to be discharged from the hospital," Williams-Thompson said.
ALSO: Gold River Senior Living Facility Resident Dies After Testing Positive For Coronavirus
"We didn't realize it would happen to someone that's close to you," Galloway said.
All of them were standing with their signs in hand waiting for the ambulance transporting Potts to arrive. When the moment finally came, applause erupted in the quiet neighborhood.
While wiping tears from her face, Potts said seeing these people welcome her husband home means the world to her.
"It's a support that you don't realize you have and as the community has come together...I'm stuck for words. But I thank them and thank God for them," Potts said.
ALSO: Coronavirus Update: Masks Must Be Worn At Travis Air Force Base Where Social Distancing Is Difficult
Potts was able to get up from the hospital gurney on his own and wave and thank everyone who came to see him.
Coming together for Dwyane means much more in a time where we all have to be six feet from one another.
"It was great that again there's a lot of folks that are surviving and this is a proven fact that, you know, take all precautions as possible and never give up," Galloway said.
Potts' wife said she and her children were under quarantine for 14 days and all tested negative for COVID-19.
Her husband will have an oxygen tank and stay inside for the next 14 days as he begins his final steps toward recovery.