Now that's patient-centered care: Hospital bends rules to reunite inseparable couple

Staff at Piedmont Fayette Hospital in Fayetteville, Ga., went above and beyond to make the hospital stay more bearable for two patients who have been married for 68 years.

The patients, Tom and Arnisteen Clark, have only been apart one time in their lives: When Mr. Clark was stationed in Korea with the U.S. Army, according to a hospital's Facebook page post. So when the two found themselves in the hospital in separate rooms, Piedmont Fayette Hospital staff worked to make sure the two were not without each other.

Both Mr. and Ms. Clark were on the orthopedics medical-surgical unit on the hospital's fourth floor, which has all private rooms. According to the hospital's Facebook post, the two could not share a room on the unit because it is against state regulations to have two patients in one private room.

To overcome that obstacle, the unit manager and clinical staff arranged visits for the couple during their stay. See the photo and description from the hospital below.

The couple's story has gone viral, with more than 3,000 shares and nearly 13,000 likes on the hospital's Facebook page.