Sutter Santa Rosa hospital staff help critically ill mom 'attend' her son's wedding

The woman wheeled Saturday into intensive care at Sutter Santa Rosa Regional Hospital was anxious and upset for all the usual reasons, plus this:

The critically ill patient was going to miss her son's wedding that day in Healdsburg.

Sutter staffers couldn't put her in an ambulance and deliver her to the nuptials, so they did the next best thing.

One care-team member helped the mother of the groom do her makeup and hair. Another hoofed it to the hospital gift shop for a shawl and a necklace.

Meanwhile, workers in Sutters' information technology department used an iPad to establish a FaceTime connection with members of the woman's family at the wedding.

As her son and her new daughter-in-law exchanged vows, the woman could see them and they could see her.

Full of gratitude, she told the Sutter crew after the wedding, “It was like I was there.”