[ad_1]
A well-known figure in Canterbury boxing died of coronavirus after being transferred to Burwood Hospital from his Rosewood nursing home.
Bernard William Pope, 78, died in hospital on Friday. He is one of six Rosewood Rest Home and Hospital residents who died of coronavirus. 14 other residents of the nursing home dementia unit remain in Burwood.
Pope trained one of New Zealand’s most successful amateur coaches, Phil Shatford, who also trained several New Zealand senior champions.
SUPPLIED
Bernard Pope died of Covid-19 on April 10 at Burwood Hospital.
“I owe Bernie a lot for what I have in boxing,” Shatford said.
READ MORE:
* Coronavirus: full coverage
* Coronavirus: Man of the 70s becomes the second death of Rosewood Rest Home, the fourth in the entire country
* Coronavirus: Confusion of Covid-19 tests in the rest home leads to “unnecessary distress”
* Coronavirus: second elderly woman to die from Covid-19 in New Zealand
The couple became “very close friends” after leaving boxing, dining together for Christmas, and visiting the cemetery almost every year from 1974 until a couple of years ago.
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON / THINGS
There are more than two dozen cases linked to the Rosewood Rest Home group, and six residents have died.
“It’s a pretty tough thing when you can’t say goodbye correctly, it just seems like it’s pretty hard to close the whole thing. Bernie and I go through a lot of things together.
“You would never choose one of your best friends and the virus would take your coach.”
Pope’s brother Fred Pope said Things He last visited his younger brother in Rosewood on Wednesday about a week before he died.
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON / THINGS
Twenty people from a dementia unit at Rosewood Rest Home were transferred to isolation at Burwood Hospital.
Pope visited him about twice a week, bringing with him a chocolate fish and a razor to shave. Bernard Pope’s health had deteriorated since December when the family thought he was going to die.
“It was normal. I just talked to him when I left, I said, ‘Are you okay?’ He looked through you and walked away around the corner. I just thought, ‘Oh, well, now he’s going to bed. or wherever it was going to go ‘and I left and left it.
“That was it. I was sad because I never [got to see] Him again. “
Pope and 19 other Rosewood residents were transferred to Burwood Hospital on April 6 after one of them was discovered to have a coronavirus. Pope was the second of the six to die, his brother said.
Fred Pope said it was unclear how Covid-19 reached the rest of the house, but added that his brother was a “very sick man” before contracting the virus.
“They all are. I have no doubt in my mind that there will be more of them who will die, have no resistance, those poor people.”
“That is the nature of this bloody beast.”
Pope praised the staff at Rosewood and Burwood Hospital who were “absolutely wonderful.” He said that one of the nurses in Burwood called another brother regularly with updates on his condition.
His brother, whose wife also has dementia and is staying in a separate rest home, was diagnosed with dementia in 2016.
He escaped twice from the first rest home he stayed in, jumping the fence on consecutive days. He then went to a nursing home in Rangiora, North Canterbury, before his condition worsened and was reevaluated as needing hospital care. He spent the last 18 months of his life at Rosewood.
“I wasn’t going to get out of there,” said Fred Pope.
He said the family was still coming to terms with his loss.
“It’s horrible, but you just have to go with the flow.”
The Canterbury Boxing Association paid tribute to Pope in a post on his Facebook page.
Pope trained the New Brighton Service and Returns Association (RSA) Boxing Club and the Crichton Cobbers Club.
“Many of today’s boxers will know Bernie as the man who got down to business to compete … Bernie was the glove manager in hundreds of tournaments encouraging everyone to do their best,” the post said.
Rosewood is owned by Malcolm and Lynda Tucker. They have been contacted for comment multiple times.
In a statement on behalf of the operators, Mike Kyne said Tuesday that the Canterbury District Board of Health (CDHB) had “full authority and control” over Rosewood residents at Burwood Hospital.
“I assure [Rosewood’s operators] They acknowledge and have extended their thoughts and condolences to the families of the deceased. “
