HURON — One of the hardest parts of the COVID-19 pandemic is being separated from loved ones who may need to be hospitalized after contracting the disease.
For family members, the nurses caring for these patients will be the only connection they have with their ailing loved ones.
“It was just such an awful, horrible time,” said Deanna Loecker of Yankton, whose parents, David and Donna Bennett of Huron, were both diagnosed with COVID-19 and admitted to Huron Regional Medical Center on May 29. Her father lost his life to the virus in a Sioux Falls hospital on June 27.
“When you find out a loved one is sick or in trouble, your first instinct is to run to be with them,” Loecker said. “The fact we have such caring and loving nurses and doctors around was the only thing that made this bearable,” she added. “A nurse in Huron in the ICU named Gail (Carter) was amazing and helped us through it.”
Loecker said she called HRMC every few hours to check on her parents, and Gail was the constant theme during that time.
“I know that the nurses are also having to be the housekeepers, the lab people, the everything,” she said. “You don’t have all these people coming in these rooms. I know the nurses are working crazy overtime, stretched to the max.
“Between being the lab person, the housekeeping person, Gail would take the time to tell me how he was doing,” Loecker added. “She was so sweet and caring. She just made me feel like I could relax because he had somebody who was looking out for him when I couldn’t be there.”
The day after her parents were admitted to the Huron hospital, the couple celebrated their 56th wedding anniversary in isolation from family, friends, and more importantly, from each other in the hospital.
The following day, her mother had recovered enough to go home, but “at the exact minute she was being discharged, my dad had to be intubated and placed on a ventilator,” Loecker said.
Her mother was on oxygen pre-COVID, but since COVID her breathing is more difficult. “Her lungs took a little hit, but she’s considered recovered,” Loecker said.
“Unfortunately my father became sicker overnight and his illness became too much for HRMC to handle and he had to be airlifted to Avera McKennan,” she added. “He remained on a ventilator at McKennan for an entire month before he lost his battle to this horrible virus.”
Her father, who was 78, was a simple man who loved tractors, old cars, and watching racing. Family was everything to him, especially his grandchildren and great-grandchild. He worked as a mechanic for most of his life, including at Carlson’s, where he retired in 2014.
“After retiring he felt the need to stay busy, so he began mowing at the golf course in the summers,” Loecker said. “He did this up until the week before he got sick.”
During his month in ICU at Avera McKennan, his eighth grandchild was born. “The nurses held up a picture and showed it to him, that was how he got to meet his granddaughter — the only time,” she said.
Loecker said as the month of June progressed, the family knew her father was struggling. They made the decision to shut his machines off on June 27.
“They took the tube out, and when they did that, two of us could go in the room and hold his hands when he passed,” she said.
She and her brother, Dwayne Bennett, sat by their father’s bed, while face-timing with her mother, Donna, who remained home with another brother, Darwin Bennett. Both of Loecker’s brothers and their wives, Mirsa and Torrie, live in Huron.
“After an extended time on a ventilator I know my dad would want to share this message — make sure your family knows your end of life wishes, just in case,” Loecker said.
“My father was surrounded at Avera with many other Gail-type nurses that were just so compassionate, kind and caring, and the best surrogate family members we could ask for,” Loecker said. “It amazed me that these nurses and physicians take care of these patients that cannot even communicate with them other than blinking their eyes —and in many cases not even that.
“They have no idea who the person in that bed is, yet fight so hard to heal them,” she said. “It inspired me to write this poem to recognize them in my father, David Bennett’s, memory. It took me like five minutes to write the thing, it poured out of me.”
Loecker works as the Regional Director of Chain Operations at Avera Health in Sioux Falls, which helps support the supply chain functions across the system.
Her poem was shared with staff internally, including the McKennan ICU nurses who were with her father a majority of the time.
“Wash your hands, wear your masks, socially distance yourself and take this virus seriously,” Loecker added. “Don’t live in fear, but make smart choices to stay safe.”
