Mabaruma teac in COVID ICU

-relatives say authorities regular medical update

Relatives of 66-year-old Janis Pritchard, who died after spending approximately 10 days in the COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU), believe that families should be provided with daily updates on patients’ condition.

Pritchard died on September 23. She was a teacher at the Mabaruma Secondary School in Region One.

According to a relative who requested anonymity, Pritchard started getting a fever and a slight cough in early September. She attributed these symptoms to the common cold but as days passed the symptoms continued to persist and eventually Pritchard was taken to the hospital and was tested for malaria and dengue. Both test results were negative.

During the time Pritchard was ill, the relative noted, she was drinking paracetamol and a lot of coconut water, so they thought this was the reason why her test results for both mosquito-borne diseases were negative.

However, a few days later it was decided that she should go to the Mabaruma Hospital and so they scheduled a visit for September 11. However, before leaving for the hospital, the relative observed that she was having difficulty breathing.

“She was not having severe symptoms while at home. It was a normal flu, so but the morning when I took her to the hospital while she was going down the stairs she had the shortness of breath but it was only then and when they did her examination at the hospital they discovered that her oxygen level was below normal. And they said that she was having symptoms suspected of COVID and they admitted her right then,” the relative said.

After she was admitted, Pritchard was swabbed and was transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) after the symptoms got more severe. Within 24 hours of arriving at the GPH, Pritchard was placed on a ventilator.

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