1/14 As a human being and the parent of a child who is clinically vulnerable, one of the many things I am unhappy about is the current and growing narrative about who dies with COVID.
2/14 Every time there is an announcement of deaths, there are several qualifiers as to how many “were unvaxed” or “were of a certain age” or “had a chronic disease”, perhaps intended to explain why it was so severe in that individual, or perhaps to reassure the punters that…
3/14 …this won’t happen to you if you’re young or vaxed or well.
Along beside this description runs an implicit subtext “of course, what would you expect”, perhaps a shrug of the shoulders “it’s bound to happen”.
Along beside this description runs an implicit subtext “of course, what would you expect”, perhaps a shrug of the shoulders “it’s bound to happen”.
4/14 It’s a slippery slope to “well those people don’t matter as much”. What is missing here is the idea that those people didn’t need to die - not now anyway.
5/14 They died from COVID, not from their chronic illness, not from their advancing age, not from their confused world view and fear of big brother establishment.
6/14 What is this prejudice about people with chronic illness? They matter.
7/14 Try telling the parents of all the children with chronic illness who are admitted to hospital or to one of our PICU for their complicated response to an intercurrent infection or need for surgery that their children are not as important.
8/14 My own child has a significant chronic illness.
9/14 Many of my friends and health care colleagues also have significant chronic illnesses - they include everyone from nurses to specialist physicians and surgeons still working, still contributing, in fact taking care of you and your loved ones.
10/14 Who knows the actual stats but I’m willing to bet that the majority of children and adults with chronic illness are living their best lives, members of families and friendship groups, most working, studying, volunteering, contributing, finding meaning in the day to day…
11/14 …and creating meaning for those around them.
They have families and friends who love them. And will grieve for them if they die. One death causes ripples of grief. Grief is not a walk in the park.
They have families and friends who love them. And will grieve for them if they die. One death causes ripples of grief. Grief is not a walk in the park.
12/14 These deaths and the wider circle of grief affect our community, our society.
How do we change the COVID death narrative ?
How do we change the COVID death narrative ?
13/14 Grief is not a new concern. Let's stop adding to the trauma and devaluing the lives of those who die by discounting their deaths.
https://twitter.com/PMGPSC/status/1283626516266418177?s=20
14/14 As a bereaved parent and from work as a grief counsellor for over 10 years, naming and acknowledging the person who died is what families need.
We need to stop discounting of the value of the person who died. Every death deserves to be honoured.
We need to stop discounting of the value of the person who died. Every death deserves to be honoured.
https://twitter.com/PMGPSC/status/1417628150893137921?s=20
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