Greeley nursing home residents protest pandemic lockdown: “I’d rather die of COVID than loneliness”

Complete Colorado ^ | 10/8/2020 | Sherrie Peif

[CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC]

Waving signs that read such things as “I’d rather die of COVID than loneliness,” and “We are prisoners in our home,” residents of one nursing facility staged their own anti-lockdown protest along one of the busiest streets in Greeley, ...

“Freedom, freedom, freedom,” one lady chanted while waving a sign that read “we want our families back.”

... Gov. Jared Polis’ mandates that do not allow nursing home residents to see their loved ones,....

... protesting the lockdown as they enter their eighth month of no hugs, no smiles, no kisses from their loved ones.

... “The isolation is what kills these people,” she said. “It’s just incredibly sad that they can’t live out the last part of their lives with their family surrounding them.”

... “They are members of the greatest generation,” James said. “The very generation who fought to overturn tyranny and protect our freedoms. Now these members of that generation have had their freedom taken away via a tyrannous act by unelected bureaucrats. The governor and the CDPHE should immediately work with these facilities to give them a way by which they may hug their loved ones.”

[CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC]

This hit a nerve for me. The Democrat Governor-mandated nursing home lockdown is what killed my Dad.

Up until mid-March, I rarely missed a daily visit to his nursing home that's a few minutes from our home, some visits many hours long.

But from that time onwards ....

• No more visits from family members, though 5 live here in town.
• No picking Dad up in the van to take him to one of our homes for meals, birthdays, holidays, and so on.
• No picking Dad up in the van to take him to a restaurant.
• No wheeling him to one of 8 or 10 restaurants all within 5 to 10 minute walking distances.
• No pushing his wheelchair to a pair of large ponds where we ALWAYS saw wildlife ... usually Canadian geese, Mallard ducks, Green Herons, rabbits, squirrels, crows, turtles and more.
• The main socialization times of day - mealtimes at 4-person tables in the dining room - were ended and replaced with meals alone in their own rooms.
• ALL group activities forbidden, including...
• No morning exercise group.
• No Bible studies, prayer groups, Sunday services led by volunteers from local churches, hymn singing .... NOTHING.
• No crafts groups, no movie nights, no excursions to interesting, wheelchair-friendly places, no musicians entertaining them, no sing-alongs.
• No visits to or from doctors to treat chronic conditions causing pain.
• No hugs, kisses, hand-squeezes, arm around shoulders, no physical contact at all from his family.

On July 2nd, without saying anything to us, Dad stopped eating and drinking ... completely. He had obviously had enough. His Living Will said no tubes, no emergency measures, so that was it. A few days from the end, they finally let us visit him in person, according to government rules allowing deathbed "compassion visits," at which point it's too late to even know if what you're saying is heard and understood.

My 96-1/2 year old WWII Navy Vet Dad passed away July 16, with two of his sons present holding vigil.

I miss you Dad!

[nuconvert]

That’s terrible story. I’m so sorry for your loss.

[livius]

Tragic.

This has got to stop.

Please send your account to the press, at least as a letter to the editor. I think most people don’t know the full horror of what’s going on.

[ScottinVA]

Very sorry for your loss.

[who knows what evil?]

Bkmrk.

[CardCarryingMember.VastRightWC]

I forgot to mention that here in Colorado at the beginning of the lockdown the Governor declared exemptions to the lockdown rules for the three types of businesses that he and his supporters feel are absolutely essential to not put a damper on ----

Groceries, liquor stores, and pot shops.

[PrairieLady2]

This lockdown has absolutely NOTHING to do with protecting anybody from anything. Every one of those healthcare providers from mop pushers to executive staff and everything in between has as much interaction in public as anybody else does. There is no reason why visitors can't be offered masks or face shields and a disposible gown, the samee as the rest of the healthcare staff. The other day I went to the kidney doctor and was told that the doc wouldn't see me unless I wear a mask. Well, I have blockages in my arteries preventing oxygenation to my lower extremities and kidneys so wearing a mask makes me feel like I am suffocating and increases my pain. Yet, rather than offer me a mask, they choose instead to throw mw out. 😤🤐🤬 Today I brought a family member to the ER for a severe skin infection..not allowed to accompany her during treatment. Yet the nurses weren't wearing masks behind closed doors. Its NOT about good healthcare, it's about control. And the rudness of nurses and receptionists is increasing. People are dying and being injured by this bull bisquits, and health workers don't give a flip. My heartfelt condolences to those with suffering loved ones.

[Oshkalaboomboom]

My mother is in a Nursing home in Virginia Beach, Virginia. El Chapo has more freedom of movement than she does.

[McGavin999]

I’m so sorry you and your dad had to go through that. Someday you will hold each other again. God bless you and your family.

[livius]

It is entirely about control. Even people who aren’t totally locked down l8ke the player’s father are subject to constant harassment and cruelty such as you mentioned in your experience.

One of the most depressing things is how willing the civilian population - such as the medical personnel - have been to enforce these cruel and irrational orders on their fellow citizens.

[livius]

I’m pinging impimp to this...impimp maintains the “Flubros and Flubras” thread .

[9YearLurker]

Criminal. My condolences.

[Gene Eric]

>> “I’d rather die of COVID than loneliness”

That’s what I’m talking about!!!

Told my wife I’d rather be an elderly casualty than have the young ones indefinitely held hostage.

The #ing Rats have no clue how close they were

[eartick]

So sorry for your loss.

My wife and I took care of my father after his massive stroke. We built him a little kitchenette and this is where he stayed for five years. Finally, it became too much care where we could not keep up with it and had to move home to nursing home.

I do not know what I would have done if I was limited to no visits. He was in the state where he did not know me but I enjoyed my last bit of time with him.

It had to be hard on you and your family as well.

These fascists need to pay and pay dearly

[eartick]

REVENUE!! To hell with Joe the Ragman....

[berry65]

Tears. 😢

[Freee-dame]

What we have done to people in nursing homes sounds like solitary confinement in prison, a very pleasant prison but still a prison.

[Karliner]

My condolences and prayers. I met a family who had similar. Their grandpa had surgery and was cooped inside a hospital with no visitation, period. He too was a WW-II vet and he died alone without his children and grandchildren around.
He died of lonliness and despair.

Another person in the family was a father, schizophrenic and his caretaker left him high and dry because of the medical”essential,non essential changes.” So, the daughter has had to care for her father with four kids and a newborn.

The horrors of the “lock-down” shelter in place”for the greater good,” will have terrifying stories and scars for a generation. God help us, God help the children and those in despair because the government is diddling and making power points with the despairing people as tools to their throne

[HighSierra5]

They say that you have to cherish the time with your kids while they’re young but it goes the other way as well. We have to enjoy the times with our parents and grandparents cause their time passes quickly. It’s great when you can have an adult conversation with your parents and when they’re gone you hear their voices of wisdom speaking to you when you’re confronted with problems and adversity.

[Mariner]

Was it not possible to bring your dad home?

I have two sisters that now care for my senile mom full time. She’s 92.

We brought her out of a home in February.

It’s been challenging, at least. Dementia and still ambulatory. She requires 7x24 attention or she’ll wander off. She’s even started a kitchen fire.

We all pitched in and bought her a chair lift to get to the 2nd floor of my eldest sister’s home. Put alarms on every door.

I can tell my two sisters suffer the fatigue of 7x24 care. But they are insistent she’ll not be in a home where the virus rampages.