Complications from COVID-19 killed a Louisville grandmother this week.Since the novel coronavirus is so dangerously contagious, Keiko Neutz, 87, was not allowed to have family members inside the hospital building in the days leading up to her passing.However, they found another way to make sure they were at her bedside, even in her final moments.Neutz’s daughter and granddaughter, Debbie and Lacy Taylor, told WLKY that on March 9, Neutz started having difficulty breathing and running constant fevers.They took her to a hospital, which they did not want to share the name of, and said doctors sent her home after diagnosing her with double pneumonia.“They didn’t think she had COVID-19,” Debbie Taylor said via Skype Wednesday “It looked like pneumonia.”The Taylors said family members asked the staff to conduct a coronavirus screening test, but were told that the unnamed hospital did not have any at the time and would have to request them from UofL Hospital.Neutz, a mother of eight children and grandmother to 28 kids, started seeing severe symptoms again. Relatives dropped her off at Norton Brownsboro Hospital on March 25, but were not allowed near her room.Her family said that she tested positive for COVID-19 while there, reportedly becoming one of four positive patients at the hospital.“We started trying to FaceTime her and it was difficult because you would have to have the nurses there to hold the phone. My mom’s not technologically apt plus she was sick. She couldn’t barely even hold a phone,” Debbie Taylor said.Then, Lacy suggested utilizing the House Party app that they use to play games while social distancing.Unlike other video chat options, no one at the hospital has to press anything on the app for things to start.“If you’re online on the app and somebody presses join, you just join right in,” Lacy Taylor told WLKY News.By Saturday, she had a laptop to her grandmother’s nurse staff at Norton.“We would get on and she’d kind of smile and talk to us, but as soon as those kids would get on she would grin from ear to ear. You’d kind of get some hope,” said Lacy Taylor.The family said it also eased their minds seeing the “royal” care she was getting from the nurses and medical staff.“You (nurses) didn’t run in and out of the room. You were not scared. We saw you put your fingers through her hair and comfort her,” the granddaughter recalled.They said the app also kept the family from forcing nurses into the contaminated hospital room more than they needed to be.It was mainly the closure it provided that’s helping Debbie Taylor mourn her loss a little easier.“There at the end, when we felt so helpless — just so very, very helpless — it was priceless that we were able to be as close to her as we could,” Debbie Taylor said. “We made the best of our situation and thank God there was the technology for it.”The Taylors are already helping more families affected by COVID-19 to set up the House Party app.They told WLKY’s Marvis Herring that they received several laptops and tablets to help their cause. The family said at least three area hospitals have contacted them wanting to implement the technology.
Complications from COVID-19 killed a Louisville grandmother this week.
Since the novel coronavirus is so dangerously contagious, Keiko Neutz, 87, was not allowed to have family members inside the hospital building in the days leading up to her passing.
However, they found another way to make sure they were at her bedside, even in her final moments.
Neutz’s daughter and granddaughter, Debbie and Lacy Taylor, told WLKY that on March 9, Neutz started having difficulty breathing and running constant fevers.
They took her to a hospital, which they did not want to share the name of, and said doctors sent her home after diagnosing her with double pneumonia.
“They didn’t think she had COVID-19,” Debbie Taylor said via Skype Wednesday “It looked like pneumonia.”
The Taylors said family members asked the staff to conduct a coronavirus screening test, but were told that the unnamed hospital did not have any at the time and would have to request them from UofL Hospital.
Neutz, a mother of eight children and grandmother to 28 kids, started seeing severe symptoms again.
Relatives dropped her off at Norton Brownsboro Hospital on March 25, but were not allowed near her room.
Her family said that she tested positive for COVID-19 while there, reportedly becoming one of four positive patients at the hospital.
“We started trying to FaceTime her and it was difficult because you would have to have the nurses there to hold the phone. My mom’s not technologically apt plus she was sick. She couldn’t barely even hold a phone,” Debbie Taylor said.
Then, Lacy suggested utilizing the House Party app that they use to play games while social distancing.
Unlike other video chat options, no one at the hospital has to press anything on the app for things to start.
“If you’re online on the app and somebody presses join, you just join right in,” Lacy Taylor told WLKY News.
By Saturday, she had a laptop to her grandmother’s nurse staff at Norton.
“We would get on and she’d kind of smile and talk to us, but as soon as those kids would get on she would grin from ear to ear. You’d kind of get some hope,” said Lacy Taylor.
The family said it also eased their minds seeing the “royal” care she was getting from the nurses and medical staff.
“You (nurses) didn’t run in and out of the room. You were not scared. We saw you put your fingers through her hair and comfort her,” the granddaughter recalled.
They said the app also kept the family from forcing nurses into the contaminated hospital room more than they needed to be.
It was mainly the closure it provided that’s helping Debbie Taylor mourn her loss a little easier.
“There at the end, when we felt so helpless — just so very, very helpless — it was priceless that we were able to be as close to her as we could,” Debbie Taylor said. “We made the best of our situation and thank God there was the technology for it.”
The Taylors are already helping more families affected by COVID-19 to set up the House Party app.
They told WLKY’s Marvis Herring that they received several laptops and tablets to help their cause.
The family said at least three area hospitals have contacted them wanting to implement the technology.
