94-Year-Old Recovers from COVID-19

94-year-old Norma Longrod is one of the oldest people to recover from COVID-19 in Western New York. “I’m much better,” said Longrod. “When I came here they thought I wasn’t going to make it.”

The Orleans County woman spent her time recovering at United Memorial Medical Center after testing positive for the virus in March. “She was brought in as a simple fall down at home, but when she came in to the emergency room we saw that she had a fever of 102,” said Peter Janes, MD, Chief Hospitalist at UMMC for Rochester Regional Health.

“Although her main complaint was falling down, she had no complaints of shortness of breath. Right away we put her in isolation.” Before contracting the virus, Longrod had been in good health and was living at home with her sister.

“It’s pretty amazing," added Dr. Janes. “She ended up being a very resilient lady. We also did treat her with hydroxychloroquine which is a medicine out there we’ve talked about in the press. Somehow she was able to stay strong enough and pull through this.” “The people at the hospital have been great,” said Longrod. “I couldn’t’ have asked for anything better.” 

The mother of one and grandmother of two is looking forward to seeing her family again.

First, she’ll continue regaining her strength rehabbing at Orchard Manor Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Batavia, NY. “It makes you feel very good,” said Dr. Janes “There are a lot of times you feel hopeless with this pandemic going on. To see someone who was in a very tough situation to pull through this and get back to almost her baseline and get on with the next stage of her life at 94.”

When asked what she would say to people not taking the virus seriously, her answer was short and to the point. “They’re crazy if they don’t.”