Sick and dying. Of of course the troubles the relatives they ask who was with my father my brother my son well what should have to die for. Germanys Health Care System has risen to the challenge many critically ill patients have been safe but many people dying of covert have been denied visitors for weeks on end. And weve seen this medicine can heal the body but the soul requires love for it to heal and thats what is being neglected here those stores force these outside it supports. What needs to be done so that covert patients and their relatives dont suffer psychological trauma. I patients as. Transferred to the copan center at the University Hospital in essen western germany currently there are 12 patients being treated here the new patient is unusual hes just 29 years old. This is a patient whos come from some distance away he was receiving noninvasive breathing assistance but it was insufficient weve connected an artificial long put him on life support he was brought here by helicopter with. This 29 year old patient isnt in a high risk category yet each day the doctors discover more alarming symptoms the sars kovi to virus is not only attacking his lungs his heart liver kidneys and probably his nervous system are also affected the doctors are worried. When somebody is so ill that they need assisted wreathing by means of an artificial along with their in a dangerous condition over here about a 3rd of such patients die but this is a case for concern. On their rounds doctors observe the young man through a window of only certain nursing staff and specialist positions are permitted to enter the intensive care unit and then only with personal protective equipment all the patients on the i. C. U. Ward are completely isolated even those who arent infected with coded the isolation can last for weeks. Because of the patients are very stressed when theyre awake theyre alone locked in a room of all everyone who enters has to be totally masked so the staff dont enter as often as they would normally opening the door and looking in so that the patient doesnt feel so alone alive as if a relative or hospital chaplain is only permitted to see the patient when the doctors have given up hope but the patient often dies before that final. Visit this in the tunic and thats very painful the Hospital Chaplains. Want as well and very hard for the relatives when its no longer possible. Extreme its part of our culture not to leave the time and i will die and thats why i. Like light on the common. 87 year old gilford hoax and his son georg know what dying in isolation means. This little courtyard was ana marie sprite enjoy it was her garden she was bill free talks wife. Thats our wedding photo. For. Ana marie and bill for talks got married in 1963 they had 2 children this picture was taken on their golden wedding anniversary in the 1st months of 2020 ana marie was taken to hospital the doctors diagnosed acute blood poisoning she was taken to the i. C. U. Her condition seemed critical but she could still receive visitors. Or you could leading her on an artificial long was a difficult step or those low voice that was the last time i saw her alive. No she wasnt conscious but i was able to hold her hand and i could tell that she knew i was there. Sadly that was the last time i saw her. With the pandemic restrictions everything stopped. For me the worst was that i couldnt visit my wife mother for me who drove. March the 16th a monday germany imposes on lockdown schools and kindergartens close factories shut down the hawks find themselves standing in front of closed doors at the hospital they. This is our no longer permitted. Timor zelman is head physician at the intensive care unit ana marie hooks is one of his patients she has tested negative for coded but the whole hospital is in lockdown even close relatives are not permitted to visit. I think relatives play an Important Role in the healing and care process nobody knows the patient better than their own relatives no one is more familiar to them than the partner or the children you know. But at that time it was absolutely impossible which i regret deeply its obvious that all. The result was often traumatic. We think it does this into our protests or at least for complete i think it complicates the process of grieving. For one thing people feel guilty if i wasnt there i couldnt be there and also because certain things couldnt be sad or experienced. And things that help with the grieving process and for help relatives to accept the ponting and hear the lock down certainly made it harder to come and decide to see where. Annamarie hooks didnt appear to be dying so the doctors didnt someone her relatives. Some of it it soon became clear that in the alley attempt situations where the patient is expected to die quite soon that relatives could be permitted to visit them again but this patient wasnt in that situation at all. After 50 days in the i. C. U. Ana marie hawkes is sent back to a non intensive ward she knows nothing about the lockdown regulations outside she cant understand why shes been placed in isolation on top of that shes hard of hearing so she cant really follow a telephone conversation. With her home small for which we did try when the nurse said its your son she said oh georg when are you coming to visit me. If you cant come this morning can you come this afternoon we spoke to the doctor and i realized shes not understanding what this pandemic means to hear all the banning of visits from the door that she was sure. She received good medical attention but for more than 7 weeks neither the chaplain nor any of her relatives could visit her. Then unexpectedly an ameri hooks died alone. The house surely surely for we abandoned her somehow increase the loss and. More and that still hurts. Us. Theyll treat and georg folks know that theyre not alone in this situation during the 1st phase of the pandemic some 2000 hospitals and about 12000 Senior Citizens residences in germany who are in lockdown for several weeks hundreds of people died like ana marie hawkes without comforting words spiritual solace or the consolation of relatives thats this mayor who will be lasting side this can cause stress in later life. We see it in our wow i had patients from the psychosomatic department who from modern clean with a subject of grief dominate all their conversations but me not that. Is the limit isnt part in the grieving process is our delayed or prevented from occurring let. Them 5 or 10 years later they return sometimes in the context of a depression but i meant that if you own or then they have to be walked through again was in his i can well imagine is happening as a result of the pandemic and. You would think that. The hoax family feel a mixture of sadness and. They have to deal with the death for there was no opportunity to say goodbye it makes bill fred who looks angry. Ready. Unfortunately there was no opportunity to talk because of the terrible situation and it still weighs heavy on me that they prevented it all humanly speaking of disaster cutlass for. The have because having us on the highway we always stuck to the rules that in retrospect i think we shouldnt have. Had to left i realize now that maybe i should have fought for my father to be allowed to visit it and that we shouldnt have simply accepted what the authorities said or. Annamarie daughter lives more than 3 hours drive from her parents home when she heard that her mother had died she set off immediately not realizing that the distancing regulations extended even beyond the point of death but inside im happy that i am not at that point i didnt know it was really the end. That i wouldnt be able to see her again i expected to be able to see her if you know paula. The. Funeral directors had strict orders once the coffin was closed it should not be opened under any circumstances no further contact not even a glance at the body Hospital Chaplains argue that more humane methods must be found even in the midst of a pandemic. By one move took in shouldnt forget that Hospital Chaplains are used to dealing with agents who are in isolation or for where we have to protect ourselves from becoming infected or as is for the clinics we saw account of a situation regularly and hospital and in differing xanadu use your id say the whole situation was a bit more threatening than other situations because it was a collective threat and it was experience of the sonship at all until a plan. Lets look at an example this hospital chaplain in essen was summoned to the i. C. U. To see a covert patient. He starts on how to miss to act. Against the tony award contacted me directly because i was on duty and i rushed over. To skiing i actually it wasnt complicated i was mad as usual you own and they explained to me that the patient wasnt a church goer but that his faith was important to him and what kind also his connection with the ever angelical churches different sort of formula from kosher. Has been done i put on the protective clothing quickly including the f. F. T. To mask and was taken to the room where this elderly patient lay lark i then removed my mask for a moment so that he could see my face like a normal bit of mine because it seemed khan and interested and i noticed that when i spoke about his family he was very moved. But i could sense it but were out of stuff. It is fun to talk and on the following day he died saturday i also had the opportunity to speak to his relatives on the phone and tell them about it will be i got the impression that it comforted them to know that their father hadnt passed from this life without christian consolation on it isnt causing so for horses and leave him regardless. But even though Hospital Chaplains can sometimes stretch the regulations the painful dilemma continues at funerals. When the urn containing ana marie hawks ashes was taken to the cemetery no more than a dozen mourners were allowed to attend. As is cheer on talwar here it is difficult and sad to have to say goodbye. If we cather here in the cemetery during unusual times i. Fall we would have liked to honor your wife or mother and your grandmother with a grand funeral if i advised. Thats not possible at present the whole want to get even in these limited circumstances let us give the departed a worthy sendoff and for this good night caving. Hawks have many friends in the town they belong to clubs and to the church in normal circumstances there would have been more than a 100 mourners at the funeral. On a memory hoax faced death alone now in the cemetery its her family who are left alone with their grief. The funeral takes place on what would have been the couples 57th wedding anniversary they had never been separated for long but in the 7 weeks before her death they were unable to see each other. Thats how you know when having like a time thats just as i was very sad when i heard that the very young normally he could have visited her in a non intensive ward. Or can usually visit in daytime toss you out you might not now. They were married for 57 years and then he couldnt see her at the end want to marry and its talking to him i think thats very very sad from the show and talk of. A Senior Citizens residence in western germany in the spring of 2020 visits are banned since people over 60 are at high risk on a lawyer i shot had been living here for about 2 years. She feels quite happy with some to call about to take care of her the management has assigned specific staff to individual residents to minimize the risk of infection. For some weeks one or more a son martin has only seen his mother from a distance. Ironically he lives close by before the covert outbreak he used to take one afternoon a week off work to give his mother an outing they used to cook up a dinner in his small kitchen and played board games afterwards his mother looked forward to it. Its been zones my always went on a monday not anymore. Its hard you know now we can only talk with him outside and inside i know she says she felt lonely going i miss my family but we have to get used to it. Which you cant do anything about it only cooperate and meet theres no alternative and. Basically were neighbors 1st of all. Just imagine if there werent any leaves on the trees wed be able to wave to each other the residence is less than a kilometer away as the crow flies its not far away at all but it might as well be on the other side of the moon or. We dont meet up we cant. Swim and. Suddenly the situation becomes dramatic 5 residents die within a few days of each other as a result of covert 1900 or high shark has made friends with another resident the 2 women have spent a lot of time together. Form a top on a laura and her nurse talk about how the 2 friends used to be together throughout the morning and afternoon. They had had breakfast and even lunch together as usual when suddenly her friend was taken to the hospital just before their afternoon coffee and. You know. 3 days later on a moron learns that her friend has died in the hospital. Good to see the. Planets and i couldnt say goodbye to her she was such a lovely person when i came here she made herself available immediately helped me with all sorts of things im really very sad that she died since to have open she. Nobody can explain to martin cash out how the residents became a covert hotspot now all the Senior Citizens are confined to their rooms the staff is in quarantine its scarcely possible to provide any spiritual consolation to the residents their relatives or the staff. Youngsters minimal to come but i was terribly scared that my mother would get sick. I would lose my mind if i couldnt see her own just the thought that she might die of covert 19 the fact that i couldnt be there in the Indian Summer sun when you didnt touch it i remember we live in the same neighborhood and theres just a door separating us one and a door im not allowed to enter to be at her side. I cant stomach the thought like that i cant bear it. Denise going on myself which also. In normal times its the job of chaplains to help in such cases to listen to give encouragement and comfort but in many regions of germany the pandemic restrictions make that impossible in stinker thats my. View and i think we should learn from this experience and in fact when the infection rate rises again and there are more sick people who are. Thus we shouldnt impose such complete prescriptions that the dying are left alone i should think so im not. Sure its must insist on this via its all ive been rather disappointed in the church as a reaction of these in its failure to say this is a situation and. Somebody has to be present at the patient wishes at a i thought he said that a person isnt left to die alone has or michelle lied to get us in view that instead someone should be allowed access he wanted call. For martin lash out the situation eases somewhat on may 10th mothers day. One relative at a time is permitted to visit a resident for one hour tables are set up in the lobby the management is taking no chances you will see during the difficult 6 weeks on a laura was able to talk to her son on the phone at least shes asked to describe the differences between a telephone call and a personal visit wondered. Whats the difference between a phoning and a real visit or not hows that for you yesterday issues are you sure this is it is nice you see each other. But you recognise each other on the phone is that its not so bad. I was always able to talk to my son that was possible yes you know but now we can see each other again. Thats nicer this is it is. Able to meet face to face at last. Hospitals have learned a lesson but that doesnt mean its back to normal coven patients in a Critical Condition are still taken to Specialized Centers the i. C. Use in germany currently have sufficient capacity and the doctors are gaining experience every day. For. The rest of the University Hospital in s. And was able to save the life of the 29 year old we saw earlier. 2 days after he came out of the coma he tried to remember what did. Happened and how he got there. You know think of all of us a dozen more kids there but i collapsed at home because i couldnt breathe properly because it was all too much. So i have a few u. F. O. I felt hot and i couldnt breathe i was going to have my girlfriend saw what was happening on. The side and i asked her to call an ambulance wanted to come. In the us. In the artificially induced coma he was unaware of that his whole life was hanging in the balance for 3 weeks. 200 kilometers away his family had to be content with information issued by the hospital. With us as always one of our successes hes no longer being ventilated no longer on life support hes even taken a few steps and we got a horse and were currently looking for rehab clinic for him before he can get fit again. Kevin young is transferred to a rehab clinic specializing in covert patients it has an isolation ward its some 200 kilometers from his home this is from loved ones would encourage him and help him recuperate. But the fear of infection is even stronger. But they got it as the numbers are still a long way to hopeful recovery but before google says ive told us but we cant be certain that hes no longer infectious or might become Infectious Diseases so we have the other doctors are very cautious about patients and his condition remain isolated until we can be quite certain of them. Currently awnings girlfriend his mother and his stepfather are hoping to see him in the rehab clinic after 2 days. They take him fresh underwear and a. Dogging suit the young man must do exercises to get fit again but they are in for a disappoint and. The apple could hand over the bag that wasnt a problem keeping our distance kevin the see that we werent allowed to say kevin that we werent even allowed into the building the fear we might be infected with covert. Loud adult day and he wasnt allowed to come outside stacked up on us presumably because of his finish and. They have no alternative but to accept the situation for the present they arent even allowed to see kevin from a safe distance of them who know its at least 6 weeks since i last saw him if we just been able to see him at a window or the reg last door it wasnt possible because of the covert restrictions and i dont know if hes really Strong Enough to handle this on his own some of the off season including. The pandemic is far from over more than 14000 people infected with the virus have died in germany but hospitals now recognise that these extreme cases where patients are left alone for weeks or even to die alone must be avoided at all costs. With personal protective equipment visits are possible. Under start to launch of. Apollo letter from the phantom hands buried across germany island following the van with yet on the one hand about this was unusual flows from complete exclusion of hospital chaplain. On the album and som