WASHINGTON (AP) — A Texas nurse who’s overcome the Ebola virus has met in the Oval Office with President Barack Obama.
The meeting, which included a hug from the president, came immediately after Nina Pham was released from the National Institutes of Health’s hospital outside Washington. Doctors there declared her to be free of the virus.
As she left the hospital, Pham said she felt “fortunate and blessed to be standing here today.” She said it could take her a while to get all of her strength back. Doctors have cleared her to return to Texas.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest says the meeting with the president was a chance for Obama to “thank her for her service.”
Pham is one of two nurses in Dallas who became infected with Ebola while treating Thomas Duncan, who traveled to the United States from Liberia and died of the virus Oct. 8.
The second nurse, Amber Vinson, is being treated at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, which today issued a statement saying she “is making good progress” and that tests no longer detect virus in her blood. But Emory said it had no discharge date for Vinson yet.
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187-a-10-(Josh Earnest, White House press secretary, at news conference)-“the country today”-White House press secretary Josh Earnest says the president wanted to demonstrate his gratitude that Pham has recovered from Ebola — and thank her for treating the original Liberian patient in Dallas. (24 Oct 2014)
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185-c-18-(Mark Smith, AP White House correspondent)-“for this meeting”-AP White House Correspondent Mark Smith reports President Obama has now met with Nina Pham, the nurse released today from the National Institutes of Health after treatment for Ebola. (24 Oct 2014)
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APPHOTO DCEV108: President Barack Obama hugs Ebola survivor Nina Pham in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Friday, Oct. 24, 2014, in Washington. Pham, the first nurse diagnosed with Ebola after treating an infected man at a Dallas hospital is free of the virus. The 26-year-old Pham arrived last week at the NIH Clinical Center. She had been flown there from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. Pham’s mother Diana, center, and sister Cathy watch. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (24 Oct 2014)
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APPHOTO DCEV107: President Barack Obama meets with Ebola survivor Nina Pham in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Friday, Oct. 24, 2014. Pham, the first nurse diagnosed with Ebola after treating an infected man at a Dallas hospital is free of the virus. The 26-year-old Pham arrived last week at the NIH Clinical Center. She had been flown there from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (24 Oct 2014)
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