Jody Fick
Morgue owner Brian Simmons has traveled to more households to bring dead bodies to the morgue and cremation since the Covid-19 outbreak.
As Covid-19 was devastating neighborhoods in Missouri, the team that transported Simmons' bodies regularly went to homes in the Springfield area.
Mr. Simmons holds a photo of his daughter Rhonda Ketchum, who died of Covid-19 before Christmas, January 28 Photo: AP
Simmons understands why people choose to die at home, because his 49-year-old daughter contracted CoV just before Christmas at a Springfield hospital and the family was only given a phone call when her condition worsened.
"Being separated is extremely difficult," Simmons said.
Across the United States, many terminally ill patients make the same decision to die at home instead of facing the dreaded prospect of having to say goodbye to a loved one behind a window or a video call.
"The Covid-19 situation we are seeing is definitely the reason patients want to stay at home," said Judi Lundk Person, vice president of the National Palliative Care Organization.
National health care organizations report a double-digit increase in the number of patients wanting home treatment.
Lisa Kossoudji, nurse supervisor at Dayton Nursing Home, Ohio, took her 95-year-old mother in the hospital home to live with after the pandemic began.
The woman, who suffers from a thick and hardened cerebral artery wall, is receiving medical care at home.
"A lot of families take their sick relatives home, even if the person is having to eat or have a breathing tube plugged in, things that every day everyone looks at say: 'Oh my God, I can't take care'",
Simmons (purple shirt) and Triston McAuliff speak in a cold storage house in Springfield on January 28 Photo: AP
Before the pandemic, staff taking care of patients died of heart disease, cancer, forgetfulness and other critical illnesses in professional settings.
But the pandemic changed everything.
"Covid-19 arrived so quickly that families were suddenly placed in a ready position to care for loved ones at home," said Carole Fisher, president of the National Partner Health Care Initiative.
"I often hear people saying, 'Now I can take care of my old mom because I work from home,'" Fisher said.
However, dying at home is not the right choice for everyone.
Karen Rubel said she did not want to take her mother, who was 81 years old, to hospital when she had a stroke in September 2020.
"I know where the patient is from," Rubel said.
