John Allan Daymon, the 78-year-old Palms Geriatric Home resident who became Guyana’s twelfth latest novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) casualty yesterday, had told his family months before that he wanted to return home.
Daymon, who had prostate cancer and was deaf for most of his adult life, succumbed early yesterday morning at the Georgetown Public Hospital’s COVID-19 Intensive Care Unit (ICU). Apart from being the country’s latest COVID-19 casualty, he is the second resident of the state-run seniors’ home to succumb after contracting the virus.
In an interview with Sunday Stabroek yesterday, his son, Napoleon Daymon, explained that his father elected to take up residence at the Palms about five years ago. Prior to this, Napoleon said, his father lived with him at Mocha, East Bank Demerara.
“He wanted to go to the Palms. I ask him, ‘Daddy, why yuh going the Palms?’ He seh he would be better there,” Napoleon said.
Before he made this decision, Napoleon noted, John had been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Napoleon further related that John, who acquired a hearing aid some time ago, had related to him a desire to return home some months ago. “He tell me ‘Son I need to come back home’. I seh daddy you are welcome home. Whenever you ready, you come. But he never made it home. If he did come home, this wouldn’t have happen at all,” Napoleon wept.
The Palms recorded its first case on May 6th after the death of an elderly patient and John was one of the patients who were found to be positive when testing was done at the home.
How John came to be infected has not been explained to his family but to date some 12 COVID-19 positive cases, comprising residents and one Patient Care Assistant, have been confirmed at the facility. John was among the two persons who were admitted in the COVID-19 ICU.
Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, Napoleon, who is a Jehovah’s Witness, met his father almost every Sunday at church. He, however, noted that after John moved to the Palms, they did not maintain a close relationship like the one they had before. Nonetheless, he said that he would often communicate with him through a friend-of-a-friend who works at the home.
According to Napoleon, he only learnt of his father being “sick” about three weeks ago through the contact.
Having read in the news about the presence of the virus at the Palms and desperate for answers, Napoleon said he decided to contact the COVID-19 hotline.
“After I read the news about people at the Palms get COVID and this and that I start get worried. So I say let I call the COVID hotline… I ask them if John Daymon is in there with COVID-19 from the Palms and they said yes. And I said I understand that he is in the ICU, they said no, not in the ICU. He is stable at the moment,” he explained.
He said he was eventually referred to a doctor who is attached to the COVID-19 unit at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH). It was that doctor, Napoleon said, who provided him with updates on his father’s condition every other day while he was hospitalised.
Napoleon said he last communicated with the doctor last Thursday. “Thursday he call me back and tell me that ‘You dad had got worse, sir’. He collecting more saline as per normal for the past two days, he collecting more oxygen, so I done get a signal there is no coming back. So I ask the doctor ‘Do you think my dad will survive?’ He said he can’t give a definite answer,” Napoleon related.
Yesterday morning, while was waiting on a minibus to go to work, he received a call about his father’s death.
The grieving son said that John would sometimes tell him that he would assist another resident, who occupied the bed next to his, since he was bedridden. It is suspected that the resident was the home’s first casualty, who was said to have been bedridden.
The Public Health Ministry, in a statement issued yesterday, expressed condolences to the family and friends of John. It also urged all Guyanese to continue observing all measures, particularly social distancing, thorough hand washing and the wearing of face masks to avoid contracting COVID-19.
Last week, Whentworth Tanner, Director of Social Services, who has responsibility for the Palms, told this newspaper that the Social Protection and Health ministries intended to have all 200 residents as well as staff tested for COVID-19. When he spoke with this newspaper he said close to 50% of the residents had been tested.
Tanner has also disclosed that all infected persons are currently being monitored in a separate location from other residents of the Palms.
