A Weyburn woman believes her mom was a victim of COVID-19 even though that is not how she died. A patient story is heard at every Saskatchewan Health Authority board meeting, some of them troubling and some with more positive outcomes. At Friday’s meeting Sue Nimegeers talked about the last 2 months of her 89 year old mom’s life going from being relatively healthy and living in her own home in Radville to dying alone in the Weyburn hospital.

Sue checked on her mom one day about an hour after homecare had been there and found her mom still in bed and barely able to speak. She was moved to the Radville hospital, which is one of the facilities that was converted to an Alternate Level of Care site in preparation for the pandemic. She had dementia and was locked in her room so she wouldn’t wander, and her family couldn’t visit her so she was alone.

The 89 year old was transferred to Weyburn, then back to Radville and back to Weyburn. She had been given increasing levels of potassium and then it was found that her potassium levels were much too high. Her health deteriorated, and in the end, when she was dying, only 1 person at a time was allowed to visit her. Nimegeers considers it cruel to have to deal with that sadness alone.
Her mom’s 8 children had to take turns, 1 by 1.

She relayed 4 recommendations for the board:

-Allow 1 healthy family member to visit a dementia patient in the hospital

-Allow 2 people to visit for end of life care

-Continue patient and family-centred care during the pandemic so seniors are closely monitored

-Make sure at least 1 doctor is available at each rural hospital.

CEO Scott Livingstone says there is a doctor in Radville, but only during the day. They will follow up on Nimegeers’ recommendations.