Heroic Surgeon, Known For His Generosity, Asked for This Before He Passed Away; Pink Donates $1 Million After Surviving Coronavirus; and a Dallas Hotel Gives Away Free Rooms to Health Care Workers.
94-year-old Dr. Francis Robicsek passed away on Friday and was well-known in Charlotte, North Carolina as being a hero to many. He saved many lives throughout his career as a heart surgeon.
Before passing away, he had a final request. Instead of being buried in the traditional garb, he asked to instead be buried in the clothing that helped him become a hero: his scrubs.
Dr. Geoffrey Rose, president of Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute, said “That’s how he saw himself. In scrubs, there to serve patients.” Robicsek founded the Atrium Health Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute and performed more than 35,000 surgeries until 1998 when he retired.
Even after retirement, Robicsek continued to help his community in his role as vice president of the International Medical Outreach program, where he would help hospitals in Central America by donating medical equipment.
In 2017, Robicsek won the Surgical Humanitarianism Award from the American College of Surgeons. He was especially proud of this award, says Carly Stephenson, a spokeswoman from Atrium Health.
Robicsek was born in Hungary in 1925 and was known then as Ferenc Robicsek. He was a true pioneer in the operating room, and one of the first doctors in Charlotte to perform heart bypass surgeries in the 1950s.
According to The Charlotte Observer, he helped to perform the very first heart transplant in Charlotte in 1986. He helped many in managing afib and dealing with complications of stroke triggered by afib.
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Pop star Pink recently took to Instagram to reveal that she had coronavirus, but recovered. When she and her young son started to show symptoms, she decided to go into self-isolation to avoid spreading the virus.
Online, she wrote:
“Two weeks ago my three-year-old son, Jameson, and I are were showing symptoms of COVID-19.
“Fortunately, our primary care physician had access to tests and I tested positive.
“My family was already sheltering at home and we continued to do so for the last two weeks following the instruction of our doctor. Just a few days ago we were re-tested and are now thankfully negative.”
Now that she’s out, she decided to donate half a million dollars of her own money to the Temple University Hospital Fund in Pennsylvania. She gave another half-mil to the City of Los Angeles Mayor’s Emergency COVID-19 Crisis Fund.
Pink also offered a word of thanks to the healthcare professionals who are working hard to save lives during the ongoing pandemic:
“THANK YOU to all of our healthcare professionals and everyone in the world who are working so hard to protect our loved ones. You are our heroes! These next two weeks are crucial: please stay home. Please. Stay. Home.”
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In downtown Dallas, the Stater Hotel is now offering free rooms. They are also offering free vouchers to people who work in several area hospitals. The hospital has designated two entire floors to healthcare professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sean Terry, the Centurion American Vice President of Entitlements said, “I am very blessed to be in a position that allows me to help many people.”
“I am proud to work with Centurion American and our partners to help those medical heroes on the frontline to get much-needed rest while preserving the safety of their families,” he continued.
Each health care worker who stays at the hotel will also receive a free meal voucher for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
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