Widow joins vaccine efforts after tragedy
THE widow of the first Scottish cop to die from Covid is now helping others survive the deadly bug. Maria Hewitt’s husband of 17-years, John, passed away in June 2020 after catching coronavirus.
“I don’t want to see any other families go through what I did, losing my best friend. I would not want anyone to suffer such pain, sadness and grief that I have to endure since losing my husband,” Maria said.
A bank nurse with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, Maria is now responsible for getting people their vital immunisations to protect them from Covid.
The memory of her husband has got her through tough times working in Covid wards, too, she said.
“I want to keep giving back to honour John’s memory. He was always trying to help others, that’s the kind of person he was. He was a humble, caring, and decent man who would always encourage me to help others as he did.
“It’s been emotional doing the vaccinations as on reflection, I carry the burden of losing John before this vaccination programme became available to the public.
“Everyone I have vaccinated is beyond grateful and kind to be receiving the vaccine, this reminds me of John; his caring and giving personality, always putting others and myself before himself.”
Maria and her daughter Niamh, 23, also caught the virus in May 2020.
“By doing the vaccinations I am helping in a very small, but important way in reducing the transmission of this virus, the hospitalisations and the number of deaths,” she added.
“Losing John was overwhelmingly heart-breaking, and due to the visiting policies and restrictions, I was never able to see John conscious again. I was only ever able to do planned Near Me calls that had been set up by the hospital for patients in ICU.
“This is in itself was very traumatic, seeing John’s health deteriorate without the comfort of myself was one of the cruellest things I have ever endured.
“On the Near Me calls my daughter Niamh joined me for most of them for support and to talk to John and reassure him. This was a hard and painful experience for me and my daughter and something we will never truly get over.”
Maria, alongside more than 1100 vaccinators, is working across the health board vaccinating the population against Covid-19.
Linda de Caestecker, the director of public health, at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, said: “We are incredibly grateful to Maria for joining our Covid-19 vaccination efforts. Our sympathies are with her for the loss of her husband, and extend to every person who has lost a loved one to Covid-19.
“Our team of Covid-19 vaccinators is providing hope for us all. They have been working work incredibly hard to make sure our population is protected against this deadly virus. Our thanks goes out to the team and for everyone who takes up the opportunity to be vaccinated. We encourage everyone to do so.”