2 doctors who met at Rhode Island Hospital get engaged on helipad

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — Two doctors at a Rhode Island hospital recently got engaged on the helipad of the hospital where they met and currently work.

Dr. Palmer Feibelman, a resident physician, is in his second year of residency.

"Ophthalmology, there's a lot of different things to learn around the eye but Rhode Island has been a great place to learn and I’ve enjoyed it a lot," said Feibelman.

Initially, Feibelman was studying engineering at Georgia Tech but gravitated toward the medical side of things.

From there, he began his path to becoming a doctor.

With the backing of the military, he was able to attend medical school.

He worked for a few years as a Navy flight surgeon.

“I was working as a doctor for the Navy for a few years and I specialized in aviation medicine," Feibelman said. "The eyes are very important for pilots they have to have great vision."

Dr. Carolina Chiou is a 'fellow' resident physician from Massachusetts Eye and Ear.

She studied at Florida International University and then went on to earn her MD from Harvard Medical School.

“My brother was born premature so he had his eye removed due to retinopathy of prematurity causing some issues and so that’s how I got exposed to ophthalmology," said Chiou.

She travels to Rhode Island once a week on Wednesdays.

The pair met while working together in the operating room last year.

Feibelman said he was excited to begin his residency which he initially thought was more of a one-on-one situation, until Chiou walked in.

“Carolina came in and I was like, 'Oh, OK I don’t mind having a fellow, maybe this will be cool,'" said Feibelman with a smile.

From then on, every Wednesday the pair worked together.

It’s one of my favorite days of the week," said Chiou. "Usually, I’m in Boston. I work at a lot of different hospitals over there, but every Wednesday I’m here and it’s awesome.

Feibelman had a crush on Chiou and would text her unnecessarily normally about a case or preparation for the next week.

"One day we worked a long case together and I was walking her to her car and I was like, 'This is the chance. I need to go for it.' and so I was like, 'Carolina, do you maybe want to go get some tacos?' and she said, 'Yeah.'," Feibelman said. “After the taco date I was like, 'Oh wow, this girl is really really cool.' Then we only had two dates after that before I was like, 'Will you be my girlfriend?'"

That relationship blossomed quickly.

“I knew I would want to get engaged sometime this summer probably, so I started the ring shopping process and I got that pretty early," said Feibelman. “I knew that I wanted to do something special for the engagement, and I wanted it to be a surprise. I thought that would be so much fun if she wouldn’t have a clue about it."

That's when Feibelman had an idea, to do it at the place he first laid eyes on her.

I finally decided I wanted to do it at the hospital because that’s where we met. We did these Wednesdays together and that was a special time so I wanted to do it on a Wednesday," he said. “I also thought Wednesday would be good because who would ever suspect that on a Wednesday morning, they would get proposed to?

“Then I started looking for places around the hospital that would be the most romantic place in the hospital which is very challenging," he said with a laugh. "There’s a lot of nice places in the hospital, but not a place you’d think of being super romantic."

Dr. Feibelman shared the idea with his co-workers at Rhode Island Hospital.

“I love her so much there was no question I needed to do something big and exciting," he said.

After getting some feedback, he decided he wanted to propose on the helipad which is located on the roof of the hospital.

The Rhode Island Hospital staff went to work.

They gave him the green light to do it, as long as there wasn't an emergency.

It was shocking how excited and willing to help everybody is when you tell them you’re getting engaged and you have a plan," said Feibelman. "Of all the people, I talked to my boss, I talked to her boss, I talked to the hospital, to the helicopter, and everybody was so happy to hop in and be a part and make it come true which was super exciting.

Wednesday, Aug. 2 was the big day.

“So I had one of our nurses that works with us go down to the OR while they were between cases and say, 'Hey, there’s something I need help with. I haven’t done this before. Can you guys come help?' and the attending said, 'Well, Carolina can help."'

“I had no idea, zero percent idea," said Chiou. “I’m texting him in the meantime being like, 'Well why aren’t you trying to help?"'

“I was on the roof, nervously pacing around," Feibelman said. "She's like, 'Palmer you need to be helping them, why are you not? What are you doing?"'

Chiou was led to the roof.

Video taken by photographer Fran Alves shows her walking out of the door asking where to go and what to do, until she spots Feibelman who was standing in the middle of the helipad on a rug covered with rose petals.

I was really caught off guard but we are so sure about everything, I was just really happy," said Chiou. “I mean, we’ve kind of just known that we were going to spend the rest of our lives together.

Feibelman got down on one knee and asked for Chiou's hand in marriage.

She said yes.

The two were on cloud 9, literally.

From there, Feibelman explained to Chiou that they had the rest of the day off.

“After I got proposed to, he knew I would never have my nails done," said Chiou. "He had booked a nail appointment for me and booked it next to the place where he got the ring so as I got my nails done we got the ring sized."

Back at his apartment, the celebration continued.

He had champagne, her favorite donuts and everything decorated for their engagement.

“Then he’s like, 'We’re going to the beach for a photoshoot' and I’m like, 'Well, I don’t have anything to wear.' and so he has two dresses for me," said Chiou.

I also felt bad that all of her engagement photos would be her wearing scrubs and a scrub cap so I knew we needed to do something where she could dress up and get some real good photos," said Feibelman.

The newly engaged couple went back to the beach that they fell in love on.

Their photos both on the helipad and the beach came out beautiful.

“When the day came and everything went flawlessly I couldn’t have been more happy," said Feibelman. "And now I have this beautiful fiancé, it makes it even better."

Feibelman and Chiou said their plan is to finish their training and then get married in a few years.

WJAR asked if the couple planned on getting married at the Rhode Island Hospital.

"We’re considering it," they responded laughing. "We never rule anything out at this point. That’s not a bad option."