Hospitals and Healthcare

Luke had just gone to bed, when he suddenly began to shiver. Within five minutes, he was drenched in sweat as his fever roared.

Trish Skinner and her husband sit on a couch, flip open their iPad cover, and open Zoom. Skinner is attending her father's funeral. Dozens of relatives will join her on this call.

One hundred miles away, near the southern English coast, someone holds up an iPhone as a coffin containing the body of Herbert John Tate, 103, is lowered into a wet, clay-lined grave.
The Zoom call is as much closure as Skinner, 72, can get -- at least for now.
"It's not how it's supposed to be," she says. "There's no interaction, physically. And that's the biggest thing that's missing during this terrible time."

I watched my father die of this disease. Here's my story.

I’ve allowed myself to feel the pain of loss and I’ve come to learn that bereavement isn’t something to fear. If anything, it’s to be embraced.

Alzheimer's and dementia have killed 13,200 more people than expected during pandemic. Doctors believe isolation has caused widespread deterioration. From the doorway of nursing home, one man fights to save his wife.

The four of us take on more responsibility at home, but we can’t ease their burden.