Our Stories
May they never be repeated.
Elizabeth Reiter
Elizabeth Reiter died alone on May 19, 2020, at the UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital on the Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora. Neither Elizabeth, her husband, nor their two children had COVID. Prior to being hospitalized, her doctors only treated her over virtual visits, because despite her negative COVID test on March 16, they thought it was a false-negative test. Instead of COVID, it was a bacterial infection that developed into pneumonia and a blood infection. Even still, two days before Mother’s Day, her family was forced to stand in the parking lot of the hospital, watching for her at the window, waving at her diminishing silhouette in the evening twilight. Later that evening, Elizabeth was moved into the ICU with bleeding in one of her lungs, the stress of not being with her boys on Mother’s Day weekend was likely a factor, as she got super emotional about being so close, yet unable to exchange hugs and in-person time. The day before she was set to be discharged on her 21st day of hospitalization, a blood clot hit 40-year old Elizabeth’s lung, causing cardiac arrest. Elizabeth’s family firmly believes that had one person per day been allowed to be with her during this ordeal, her husband would still have a wife, and her boys would still have a mother. That’s because when someone’s world is collapsing, family and loved ones are needed to try and keep them from getting crushed.
Keith Stovall
Keith Stovall went to the hospital on May 23, 2021, thinking he had an infection related to his kidney transplant. He contracted such an infection every couple years, and it was easily treated by antibiotics. One the fourth day in the hospital, he tested positive for Covid-19. The first day after the test, his family was allowed to visit, provided they wore full PPE. The next day, no one was allowed to visit. His support system was no longer allowed by his side. After his wife, Rachel, found out her husband was under-nourished and hadn’t been bathed in 11-days, she showed up at the hospital and asked the staff for an eyes-on-welfare-check. When the hospital staff refused, she asked the CSPD. The officers found Keith’s room busy with staffers finally providing the care Keith should have been provided in the days prior. A public outcry catalyzed by social media forced Memorial Hospital to relent and Keith’s wife finally was allowed to spend significant time with her husband; but it was too late. On June 20, 2021, Keith passed away. His wife said, “In the past, when Keith was in the hospital, I would sing, pray, and speak with him. I was his advocate to make sure he got the care he needed. I was not allowed to do that this time, and I know it made a difference.”
“To touch is to give life.”
— Michelangelo
Young couple
On December 31, 2021, Lindsey was 26-weeks pregnant and needed an emergency c-section because she had full eclampsia, her body was shutting down. She was immediately transferred to the ICU, where she was put on oxycodone and morphine. The doctors estimated that she had a 5% chance of living. That's when Bob called his parents sobbing because his wife was dying, he had a micro-preemie baby boy, and he had to choose between spending his time with his bride or spending time in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). That’s because due to COVID policies, he wasn’t allowed to go back and forth between the NICU and the ICU. Thankfully, Lindsey turned a corner and survived, but she had to do it without her husband, because Bob had made the impossible choice to stay with his son instead of his wife.
Elderly mom w/ dementia
Robert Peterson’s mother has dementia and lives in a nursing home in Denver. In March 2020, Robert was one of the few people she still recognized. That’s when the nursing home locked the facility down and barred all visitors. Eight months later, when visitors finally were permitted again, Robert walked into his mother’s room grateful to be reunited, only to find that she no longer recognized him.
Hospitalized couple w/COVID forced
to
separate rooms
In January 2022, in the Dallas-Fort Worth-area, Pastor Lucas took both of his parents to the hospital after they tested positive for COVID. His dad, especially, wasn’t doing so well. Despite his and their express wish that they be allowed to share a single room, the hospital insisted on separating them and refused to allow any visitors during their stay. Isolation-mania has reached such a pitch that even a married couple with the same virus aren’t allowed in each other’s presence.
Share your story
The various medical associations believe their actions should be unquestioningly supported, so big media generally has ignored our stories.
It’s bad PR, so the only way we can break the stranglehold is for us to share our stories.
Please consider sharing your story, so that our collective trauma can no longer be ignored.