My mother was recently hospitalized at Tower for 17 days for covid and unfortunately, she passed away. She was on C1 and then transferred to T4. My mother has struggled with health issues most of her life and when she got covid she was not optimistic that she would pull through. There were several days at the beginning of her stay where we were pretty sure she would get through this but once she developed pneumonia and got moved to IMU we became leery of her recovery.

My mom had three daughters and two grandchildren.  She was the oldest of 10 children and she grew up out west.  She was the kindest and most loving person I knew. My sister and I had spent some time with her, and she randomly would tell us who gets what and to take care of her cats.  We listened and told her that we would make sure everything was taken care of. I realized that she was not going to get better and went to her room and the wonderful Courtney met with us and provided her with support and her prognosis.  She agreed with my mom’s wishes to give it a couple more days to see if she would bounce back however that night my mother had a respiratory event and was unresponsive. We had already prepared for my sister to travel from SC the day before so we could meet with palliative care too, and she had planned a flight to PA to attend the meeting.

Unfortunately, the meeting never occurred, and the staff kept my mom on BiPAP until my sister arrived. We were able to sit by her bedside and her grandchildren were able to come to say goodbye. The staff allowed our pastor to come to her bedside and provide emotional and spiritual support. We pulled her covers down to hold her hand and we found two stuffed animal cats on my mom’s lap.  The day before my mom jokingly asked the nurse (can’t remember her name but she was amazing) if she could take her cats if she didn’t make it through this and the nurse so kindly said she couldn’t take the cats, but she was sure they would find a home. Another nurse provided my mom with a coke (she didn’t like Pepsi) so the nurse bought her a coke and brought it in for her. The staff that took care of my mother was exceptional and extremely compassionate. Courtney was very informative and supportive. She checked on us repeatedly and made sure we had anything we needed. The staff provided us with snacks and drinks and provided exceptional care.  We are so thankful for the staff on T4 and Courtney for everything they did for us.