Letters: Appeal from an isolated, grieving mother (5/1/20)
Appeal from an isolated, grieving mother
Dear stay-at-home protesters,
Recently, when a local news channel reported, “Sad news: Two COVID-19 patients, in their 30s, have passed away from the disease. …” I know one of them is my son.
He passed away at Swedish Medical Center after a horrific 10-day battle with this devastating illness.
My only son died after spiking a 109-degree fever for days. He was packed in ice, but they couldn’t bring it down.
His resting heart rate was 180 bpm.
Friends and family of the victims are in agonizing, unrelenting pain. My stabbing pain shatters my heart every minute of every day. This huge fissure in my soul will never heal.
We couldn’t be there. We couldn’t say goodbye. We couldn’t see his body; sadly, NO funeral.
We are honoring “quarantine in place,” so there are no comforting hugs or sharing of our pain.
So protesters, unless you want to die painful, horrendous, and lonely deaths, putting your family through unspeakable, excruciating pain, I suggest you listen to Gov. Jared Polis.
I want to give a big shoutout to the doctors and nurses at Swedish. They are heroic warriors who not only risked their lives to care for my son but kept me updated twice a day. They also had the daunting job of informing me at 1 a.m., March 31, that my son, Matthew James Huntington, had passed.
We know the seriousness and importance of the governor’s stay-at-home order.
Please, please honor that.
Kathryn Beck, Lone Tree
Bonus-pay fallout
Re: “Council members unhappy about executive bonuses, lack of transparency,” April 29 news story
Wow. Just wow. Denver Health CEO Robin Wittenstein and her PR team are clearly tone-deaf.
Wittenstein’s statement that her leadership team is “cutting its hours and therefore pay, by 12%” made me laugh out loud.
True leaders cut their pay and work more hours in times of financial uncertainty.
Linda Pryor, Longmont
President’s decision includes safety measures
Re: “Despite virus outbreaks, work deemed ‘critical,’ ” April 29 news story
Your front-page coverage of President Donald Trump’s executive order on meat processing plants was interesting and could lead a person to believe that he was blatantly disregarding the health and safety of workers at those plants.
What was missing from your coverage?
The text of the executive order, which specifically states that “… the Secretary of Agriculture shall take all appropriate action under that section to ensure that meat and poultry processors continue operations consistent with the guidance for their operations jointly issued by the CDC and OSHA.”
I believe it is important to present that part of the story as well as the concerns of the unions and various state authorities.
Tom Kocialski, Centennial
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