President Obama gives a hug to Dallas nurse Nina Pham in the Oval Office on Oct. 24. (Photo by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON — Hours after being declared Ebola-free, Dallas nurse Nina Pham got a hug from President Barack Obama in the Oval Office.
Pham met with Obama on Friday afternoon and is scheduled to return to Dallas later today. This morning, she was discharged from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., where she has been in isolation since Oct. 16.
“I feel fortunate and blessed to be standing here today,” Pham told reporters at NIH, flanked by her sister and mother.
Pham walks alongside Anthony Fauci of the NIH at the White House. (Kimberly Railey/The Dallas Morning News)
Her sister, Catherine, and mother, Diana, joined her at the White House. They sat next to Pham on a couch in the Oval Office, across from Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at NIH.
Also present were Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell, Pham’s primary doctor Dr. Richard Davey Jr., and Dr. Cliff Lane of the NIH.
Pham beamed when Obama hugged her, as photojournalists captured the moment.
Afterward, Pham was smiling and appeared in good spirits. The 26-year-old was the first American nurse to contract Ebola on U.S. soil.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest said no special precautions were needed or taken, because her doctors had given her a “clean bill of health.”