The staff at New York Hospital Queens (NYHQ) can add wedding planner to their résumés as they organized a wedding ceremony for patient Atina Punch and her fiancée after an emergency appendectomy threatened to ruin her special day.
“I know that from the time when you are a little girl, you start to dream about what your wedding day would be,” said nurse Christine Buividas, who was in charge of the unit caring for Punch. “She was so sad when she heard the news she wasn’t going to be able to leave the hospital.”
Six days before their April 17 nuptials, Punch, 22, of Queens Village and her fiancé William Green, 23, hit a snag in their long planned church wedding when Punch was rushed to the hospital with a ruptured appendix. After an emergency surgery, the doctor said Punch required some extra recovery time and she would not be able to make the April 17 wedding.
“The nurse [Buividas] heard that the patient’s wedding was coming up and that she would miss it, so she asked for the help of hospital counselor Patricia Woods, and the hospital’s head chaplain Rabbi David Keehn,” said NYHQ Director for Public Affairs, Cynthia Bacon. “She wanted to organize a wedding ceremony for them and the hospital said yes.”
It took the hospital less than 24 hours to organize the ceremony with the help of the family. The bride and groom were joined by 35 members of their immediate family and closest friends to witness their special day.
“It was great. I really enjoyed myself,” said the newlywed Mrs. Green. “I didn’t even feel like I was in the hospital. There were flowers, hors d’oeuvres, a wedding cake, my own minister. I even got a bouquet to walk down the aisle while on the arm of my father.”
The hospital paid for the ceremony, and Bacon said it’s just not about healing the patient physically, there’s also an emotional component the patient can benefit from it.
“I have to thank everybody for all their support . . . my family, my friends and the hospital staff,” said the bride. “My sister and I were born here. This is my family’s hospital. When I have my kids, I will be right here.”
