Death in the time of COVID-19

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This article was published 23/04/2020 (2143 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

No matter when Helen Anning died, it was going to be tragic for her family. But amid COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, it was even worse.

The 89-year-old — who was rushed from an assisted living residence to Grace Hospital last week with a suspected case of the novel coronavirus — died Monday after a brief battle with what was diagnosed as pneumonia.

While only one family member was allowed to be with her earlier in her stay, when it appeared death was imminent — following Winnipeg Regional Health Authority rules to reduce the spread of coronavirus — and no one was at the hospital when she died a few days later, Anning’s relatives use one word to describe the health facility’s workers.

Heroes.

“(It) is easy to be critical and say this was terrible — she should have seen family,” Anning’s son, Bruce, said Wednesday. “But you don’t see what people working in hospital are dealing with on every level, and they go home at the end of their shifts and come back again.

“These are trying times and they are true heroes… I don’t have any negative things to say. They are trying to keep this environment safe,” he said.

“Would I have liked a different outcome? You bet, but it is what it is… My mom didn’t have the opportunity to say goodbye to her sons.”

Bruce said his mother’s death had not been looming; they were making plans for her upcoming birthday and the summer.

Anning was born in Saskatchewan in 1930, and met her future husband, Bob, when she moved to Winnipeg in the late 1940s. They were married Oct. 8, 1955, and were together for almost 38 years before Bob died in 1993.

Bruce said his mother was already in isolation at Dakota House, where she had lived since 2018, when she became sick and was taken to hospital. The family chose him to be the lone visitor she was allowed to have during the first two days of hospital admission.

“There are certain rules for visitors — the patient has to have a critical illness or end of life. Other than that, it is a lockdown there,” he said.

“(My mother) was critical when she went in. To go in, I had to answer questions, have my temperature taken, put on masks, face shields, and gloves, lots of washing hands. When I left, I had to take them off and again be questioned. And it would all be done again the next day when I returned.”

During this time, Anning got a bit better.

“It was weird how the rules work: when her vitals came up, I was asked to leave,” Bruce said.

Bruce said the family was in constant communication with his mother’s care team, and on Monday, they rushed to the Winnipeg hospital when told it was time. However, Anning died before they could get to her bedside.

WRHA spokesman Paul Turenne verified the Grace, as with other acute care facilities across the province, is not allowing visitors in to visit patients, except in cases including when a patient is near death.

It’s being done to reduce the chances of spreading the virus that causes COVID-19, he said.

“We know it’s not easy,” Turenne said. “We appreciate people’s understanding. There’s a screening system for staff and visitors… we just want to remind people this is all meant to be temporary. There will come a time when this is lifted.

“It is unusual times for everyone.”

Anning died the same day provincial public health officials said a woman in her eighties had died of coronavirus complications. However, Bruce said that person wasn’t his mother; Anning had tested negative.

“She had all her faculties,” Bruce said. “Maybe without the self-isolation things would have been different.

“If this was six months ago, she would have been surrounded with family. It’s hard for the world to understand what’s happening.”

Anning is survived by four sons and their families.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca