CORONAVIRUS
Provo Community Pays Tribute To Respiratory Therapist Who Died From COVID Complications
Jan 30, 2021, 7:46 PM | Updated: Dec 23, 2022, 11:00 pm
PROVO, Utah — The hospital community in Provo gathered to pay their respects for a Utah County respiratory therapist who died of COVID-19 on Jan. 23.
Hospital workers lined the streets Saturday morning, along with family and friends.
Provo firefighters, police, family and hospital co-workers showed up to the memorial parade to honor 65-year-old Rufino Rodriguez, a 30+ year veteran of the NICU unit at Utah Valley Hospital.
During his career, he helped care for more than 30,000 babies and flew on the LifeFlight team.
His family said this a wake up call for how serious the virus is.
“It’s frightening to tell you the truth because it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone, it can to you. You don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Rufino’s brother. “We pray and wish that a solution could be found quickly because people die everyday from it. It’s devastating.”
Plans are to repatriate Rufino back to Guatemala so that he can be laid to rest next to his father who also recently died from COVID-19.
