A traveling monument in honor of the "forever essential" healthcare workers and caregivers who lost their lives due to COVID-19 was unveiled at the California State Capitol Wednesday evening. In a press release, the installation, named Forever Essential, is described as a physical and digital memorial. “Since the start of the pandemic, more than 460 healthcare workers, that we are aware of in California, have died from COVID-19,” said Dennis.
During the pandemic, families could not visit loved ones in hospitals and nursing homes, forcing people to receive devastating diagnoses alone, families to make harrowing medical decisions over the phone, and patients to die alone.
Lesley McClurg/KQED
toggle caption Lesley McClurg/KQED
A patient in the COVID-19 ICU at Mercy Hospital of Folsom, Calif. is not allowed visitors. For many months during the pandemic, family weren t allowed to visit any hospital patients. Lesley McClurg/KQED
Kenneth Newton never imagined his mom would die alone. He lives in Petaluma, Calif. Last winter his mother developed a tumor while she was living in a nursing home in Tennessee. Her health declined quickly. Newton longed to visit, but it was against the rules.
His mom saw people who delivered food and those who made sure she took her medicine. But otherwise she was alone, though Newton and his four siblings talked with her regularly.
Some Question Whether Hospital Visitation Bans During Pandemic Were Too Strict
By Lesley McClurg
May 6, 2021
Kenneth Newton never imagined his mom would die alone. He lives in Petaluma, Calif. Last winter his mother developed a tumor while she was living in a nursing home in Tennessee. Her health declined quickly. Newton longed to visit, but it was against the rules.
His mom saw people who delivered food and those who made sure she took her medicine. But otherwise she was alone, though Newton and his four siblings talked with her regularly.
Then, last January, they received the dreaded call. His mom had died at age 92 without any family present.