The Reginald P. White Nursing Facility at East Mississippi State Hospital welcomed the return Thursday of Douglas Tools after his recovery from COVID-19, according to a news release from the hospital.

Staff members lined both sides of the hallway and held signs as Tools returned, wearing his usual fashion accessory, sunglasses, and waving to those greeting him. 

“Douglas Tools has always stood his ground,” Debbie Linton, one of the nurses on Wisteria Hall, also known as the Covid-19 unit, stated in the news release. “He has never let anyone or anything get him down. He used this to his advantage when he didn’t let COVID-19 take him down.”

Tools was one of the first residents to be sent to Wisteria Hall/Covid-19 unit to receive care and he maintained a positive attitude, according to the news release.

There is rarely a day you will see him and he does not give a salute or hello with a big smile lighting up his face, according to the news release.