If I Could Get A Helicopter To Mum's Floor I Would... I Just Really Want To Give Her A Hug

Loved ones desperate as HSE urges caution

- Emma McMenamy

AN abundance of hugs await 86-year-old Eily Dunlea when lockdown is lifted at her nursing home, her daughter has said.

Tracy Dunlea, 48, told how the toughest thing for her is not being able to see her mother – who she normally visits four times a week.

She added that mother-of-seven Eily, who is originally from Blackpool in Cork, has dementia but is being well looked after at Care Choice in the Montenotte area of the city.

Tracy said: “I’m very close to my mam as I have no kids, whereas my siblings do. I have spent the last five years going up to and putting her to bed every second night.

“I really just want to give her a hug but it’s not looking good for doing that anytime soon.

“There’s no Covid in the nursing home despite it being a huge building, three-storey high.

“We were supposed to have 10 minutes next week with her out the front of the home but that’s been cancelled now because they just don’t want to take the chance of Covid entering the building.

PEACE

“If I could get a helicopter every night up to the third floor I would but I believe they are making the right decision and putting her health and those of others first.

“What’s keeping me going and putting my mind at peace is how well she’s being looked after and how great the staff are with her.”

Meanwhile, Breda McDonald from Cobh, Co Cork, is just hoping her mother Maureen Gannon, 95, lives through the lockdown after suffering a recent health scare.

She told how the mother-of-six, who is at St Brendan’s Community Nursing Unit in Loughrea, Co Galway, pulled through and she was able to speak to her on FaceTime thanks to the amazing staff who organised it.