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We met Helen Walter on a dog walk outside the house in Tyresö. She herself is in the risk group as a person in her 70s with a newly inserted heart valve and as a retired doctor with care with infection control. During the walk, remember that two meters is as long as a bed and keep an adequate distance.
Mother Siri Eriksson took the same care to protect herself. I was quarantined at home and only had contact with the home care service. Staff not wearing mouth guards or visors had to wait at the door when she posted the shopping list in the hall.
First received home care after being hit by a car in a parking lot in Märsta last year, before that, she managed on her own.
– The mother was alert and fresh, but after the accident she needed support from the home care service and received help with cleaning, laundry and shopping, says Helen Walter.
Siri Eriksson, 93, from last winter’s holiday celebration.
Photo: Private
She shares a photo of her mother from last Christmas when the family gathered outside on Christmas Eve, a beaming lady with a twinkle in her eyes.
– I have always told him that you will live much longer than me. He loved his summer home near Hallstavik and could be there this summer. Neighbors helped her buy food, says Helen Walter.
Last weekend started Siri Eriksson felt ill and was transported by her son to Danderyd Hospital. It was discovered that she was infected by covid.
– She was getting worse and worse. They increased the oxygen supply with a high pressure mask and a high pressure halter, but still failed to oxygenate her. The lungs just compacted.
Four days later, Siri Eriksson died. Helen Walter couldn’t speak or say goodbye to her mother.
– I couldn’t speak for all the oxygen. The last day we had the opportunity to go there. But I myself am an at-risk person with a new heart valve and have recently been in the hospital for heart fibrillation. Therefore, I was not able to visit my mother in the last hours, but my son, my brother and my niece were there, says Helen Walter.
Of the 3,563 people who died in covid-19 so far during the pandemic in the region, one in four has received home care and about half lived in nursing homes. Siri Eriksson belonged to the priority group in the vaccine queue, but in the Stockholm region, vaccination of the elderly with home care did not begin until this week. According to the Regional Councilor for Health and Medical Care, Anna Starbrink (left), It was a strategic decision to let the medical and nursing staff take the lead in the queue.
– I do not think it is bad or incorrect for healthcare professionals who have such large contact areas with fragile people to be vaccinated. But my mother should have been vaccinated a long time ago. It belonged to phase one which is older with home care, says Helen Walter.
Immediately after the mother tested positive at the hospital, he contacted the municipality of Sigtuna to alert about the covid infection.
– I immediately thought that the municipality should find out quickly so they can track infections among users and home care staff. I thought that it should be of great interest to avoid cluster infection. The one who infected the mother probably went to many more. But I got the answer that it is the responsibility of the region and that I could contact the health center.
“The problem has not disappeared because my mother has died, there are others who may also die,” says Helen Walter.
Photo: Magnus Hallgren
The municipality of Sigtuna does not want to comment on the individual case, but confirms in an email that they now have covid infection among their more than 400 elderly people with home care.
– According to information from the executors, there are currently less than 10 confirmed cases. If someone receiving home care is suspected of being infected, there are clear routines for how home care staff should act. Among other things, contact the responsible health center about how to act in the event of confirmed COVID infection. This is not the municipality’s area of responsibility, says Lena Bjuhr Erngren, operations manager for elderly care.
Why vaccination of the elderly The delay in home care, according to the person in charge of care for the elderly, as in the rest of the region, is due to the delay in deliveries and the order of priority.
– The Stockholm Region is responsible for vaccinating the elderly with home care, but the availability of vaccines has delayed initiation for certain groups. We have followed the recommendations of the region to offer vaccination first to all people in special housing and then to municipal health and care personnel. Vaccinations have been offered to all staff and staff vaccination is in full swing. In special homes, our users have already received both dose 1 and dose 2, says Lena Bjuhr Erngren.
Helen Walter has always he has been involved in society, as a district doctor and as a leisure politician for the moderates in Tyresö. She lacks an overall responsibility now during the pandemic, so regions and municipalities cannot blame each other.
– I immediately felt the duty to sound the alarm. The problem has not disappeared because my mother has died, there are others who can also die, says Helen Walter.
Pet the furry dog Chester, who is a lifeguard dressed in black. It has been a painfully difficult time after her partner also died of cancer on the second day. Now you have to start planning the next funeral. She, like all people 65 and older in the county with underlying illnesses, is waiting for a message about the vaccine.
– I would have liked the vaccine the day before yesterday, of course, like everyone else. But they still haven’t told me when it’s my turn, says Helen Walter.
Read more: 30 doses are expected for the most fragile of the archipelago
