Family learn tragic news while trying to cheer up elderly father

Nurses who sat with an elderly man as he died posted loving signs to the window of his room to his family standing across from the hospital telling them he was now “at peace”.

Rene Johnson, 65, contracted COVID-19 while living in a nursing home and when his condition failed to improve, he was shifted to a hospital in Manchester, New Hampshire, CNN reported.

His family encouraged him from a position across from his bedroom window, holding up signs with positive messages for both him and the nurses.

On May 17, the family received a call with devastating news Mr Johnson had passed away as they gathered in the park in their daily show of love and support.

Shortly after receiving the call, nurses at the hospital displayed their own signs for the first time.

One of them read, “he is at peace”, while the other said, “we are so sorry”.

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“We would have loved to be by our dad's side, but if we couldn't we are extremely thankful that these compassionate, loving staff took our place for us,” Mr Johnson’s daughter Angela Daneault told CNN.

In a post to a local community Facebook group, she gave a “huge shout out to the CMC ICU staff for all their love and compassion while our dad was fighting COVID”.

“Our family honestly could not have got through this ordeal without these heroes on the frontlines risking it all for people’s loved ones,” her post, shared more than 1300 times, read.

The family would spend hours each day outside his window with their signs, including a giant sheet that was spray-painted by his son Kevin to say “We love you, Dad!” and “We miss you, Dad!”.

They also wrote in coloured chalk on a big concrete wall the words, “thank you nurses”.

“They extended so much love towards us and so much compassion during such a heartbreaking time for all of us. I feel like it will never be enough to show how much we appreciate them,” Ms Daneault said.

The family have established a GoFundMe account to raise money for the hard-working frontline workers, and hope to deliver them home comforts in the form of care packages and cupcakes.

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