A heartbroken daughter prevented from being by her dying mum’s side, wants a review on visiting rules for those passing away from non-Covid illnesses.
Just six weeks after the death of her mother, Ina McCrumlish is helping people who can’t get to funerals of friends to post condolences online in a new community initiative.
Ina’s mum Marie died without any family around her in the Louth Hospital, Dundalk, on March 29 after spending 96 years in the heart of communities surrounded by people as both a teacher in Tyrone and a publican in Louth.
Marie had been cared for in her own home in Drogheda by her children and carers until she had to be admitted to a palliative bed in the Louth County Hospital, where Covid-19 restrictions meant Ina and her siblings weren’t allowed to see her, even in her final hours.
However, after pleading with nurses, Ina was allowed in to see her for 30 minutes on the day before she died.
Contact was through FaceTime, facilitated by nurses, when Marie, who had dementia and limited speech. would try and touch her family through the small screen.
“My mother was our centre of everything being cared for in her own home, so having to settle for seeing her non-verbal capacity and dementia magnified on an iPhone screen was deeply upsetting,” said Ina.
“Her puzzled face told me she did not understand what was happening around her and we could see her asking where we were. The end of every call was truly heart breaking.
“I find it hard to accept that a woman who was much loved and surrounded by people all of her life had to die alone.
“She did not have Covid-19. She was no risk and her family were willing to take every necessary precaution recommended when visiting her.”
Her new, free initiative is aimed at those who are not computer literate, who may have no computer or internet access in their home, and would like to upload a condolence for their loved one on the RIP.ie website.”
The service can be accessed by ringing Ina on 087 2955197 or Rachel on 087 3611956.
