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Tragedy is defined by small moments and raw emotion.
After three months of interviewing seniors and their families about the pandemic, several of those stand out. One is the anxiety: Don Brown calling his daughter 30 times each afternoon, wondering why she’s not visiting as his brain struggles to understand the masks and tension in his dementia ward.
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Then there’s longing and tenderness: Laurence Babiuk, pre-pandemic, quietly entering his wife’s long-term care room to simply hold her, cuddling on the bed.
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It’s the helplessness of the victims that gets to Heather McKeown.
One year ago Friday, her mother Wendy became the first of hundreds of long-term care residents to die when Alberta’s facility lockdowns, masks and quarantines failed to protect them from a new coronavirus sweeping the globe.
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“That’s where the rage comes from, whether it’s warranted or not,” said Heather, still grieving, bewildered and quick to tears. “She didn’t go out and get it. My mom was not mobile. Somebody brought it to her, 100%, no question. It was brought to her and it killed her.