(Paige Koster Photography)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

the hall way

Op-ed: A plea to those still breathing, for those gone before us

Dec 21, 2021 | 11:05 AM

Dec. 18, 2020 — the first day a death from COVID-19 in Red Deer was reported by Alberta Health.

Keep in mind, Alberta Health has stated that a COVID fatality means the disease was determined to be either the primary or secondary cause of death.

In the year since Red Deer’s first, a total of 84 people — I stress people – from our fair city have died from this wretched disease.

That’s not to mention the 28 across Red Deer County, 13 from Sylvan Lake, 12 in Lacombe, nine in Lacombe County, 30 across Ponoka County, and nearly 3,300 across Alberta.

More than 30,000 Canadians have died from COVID-19.

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CPKC Holiday Train returns to Central Alberta on Dec. 11

2h ago

ANNUAL LIGHT THE HOUSE EVENT

Ronald McDonald House lights up with holiday cheer for 2024

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enviro container

Red Deer-area company fined $12,000 for Water Act violation

20h ago

Make no mistake: this piece is not about convincing you about the benefits of vaccines. This is about reminding those of us still breathing just how important it is that we remember those gone before us, but also that we don’t act selfishly if we’ve been lucky enough to not face the same scenario.

People are grieving. It’s the first or second holiday season for so many families without their loved one. Let that sink in.

“Every life has a story,” Red Deer Mayor Ken Johnston told me in a recent interview. “Every life leaves memories, and an imprint on those that person was closest to. Their families and friends have not seen their loved ones die, and then rationalized it in the ways some have.”

Throughout the pandemic, rdnewsNOW has published statistical updates for our readers over 500 times.

As the journalist who does most of those, I can tell you that reporting the increasing numbers, particularly the category of deaths as it’s ticked up by one, two or three at a time for the city, has been heartbreaking.

Most of us can still say we don’t know the pain of losing someone to COVID-19, but that shouldn’t stop us from having empathy towards those who have. We should not be apathetic towards those who’ve passed on because they had a pre-existing condition, because they were older, or because they represent a small percentage of the population.

Not knowing someone who’s passed myself, my heartache of course cannot compare to the person who does, but categorizing these people as numbers each day has been challenging mentally, and something I’ve long wanted to change.

To date, no one who knows someone has come forward despite my attempts.

For Eve Stange, a 17-year-old at Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School, her bout with COVID-19 last April gave her new perspective.

Symptoms ranged from dry throat in the beginning to loss of taste and smell, then extreme fatigue for three weeks, she shares.

Extremely uncomfortable motor and vocal tics she dealt with prior to having COVID have since worsened.

“I don’t think I realized how many people had died in Red Deer. Knowing that number now though, I feel sorry for the people that had to lose someone they loved, to something that could have been stopped if the right tools were in place,” says Stange, one of over 9,500 confirmed cases of COVID in Red Deer.

“It also makes me thankful for my life, and that my case was mild so my parents didn’t have to bury their daughter. I think death from COVID needs to hold more significance than it does. The emotional damage this pandemic has caused, especially for the families of those who’ve died, will be something that affects everyone for decades to come.”

No matter where you stand on COVID, or how much COVID fatigue you have, this pandemic isn’t over. We need to keep collectively fighting this.

Meanwhile, we should also reiterate our profound thanks to the fine people who’ve kept society breathing, including nurses, doctors, lab techs, paramedics, retail workers, truck drivers, researchers, teachers, and dare I say, journalists!

Give yourself a pat on the back too. We’ve been through an experience we never saw coming, and one we’re very likely to never need to go through again.

It hurts to know 84 lives in our city alone have been lost to the same cause, just over the last year.

“I really think it’s incumbent on all of us to think about the dignity of human life, no matter if someone’s a day old, or 100 years old,” adds Mayor Johnston. “We really do ourselves a disservice by trying to put someone’s life in such a lens.

“My message,” Johnston continues, would be, first of all, try to see the good in each other. But also, try to see that the balance of life is more than COVID. Let’s continue to have our humanity about us.”

My one ask to Red Deerians is to remember those who’ve passed fondly, and to think hard about what your words might mean if a family who’s lost someone were to hear them.

Do a good deed in their honour. Help someone. Be your best self.

Those 84 – may they rest peacefully – deserve that.

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EDITOR’S NOTE: The views expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of rdnewsNOW or Pattison Media. Column suggestions and letters to the editor can be sent to news@rdnewsNOW.com.