(Jamaica Observer) THE funeral for Jodian Fearon, the 23-year-old woman who died after being denied access to health care in April, is scheduled for tomorrow.
The service is set to begin at 10:00 am.
The name of the church is being withheld to prevent crowding or any breach of the Government’s COVID-19 protocols, the family has said.
However, the public can view the live stream for the thanksgiving service at Youtube.
“We’re planning to follow the protocol that the prime minister has set out because of COVID-19. We intend to follow the guidelines so we will stream the service. It will be very small and intimate, but we will stream it so that her supporters can be a part of it,” Fearon’s mother Portia Haughton told the Jamaica Observer.
“It’s very difficult when you have to plan your child’s funeral. The family is having it hard. Her grandmother is having a very difficult time. Her sister, Shanice, is having it hard as you can imagine. It’s very hard but we’re going to honour her,” she added.
Fearon, a first-time mom, died on April 24 after a journey that saw her travelling across the Corporate Area and being denied access to health care at several of the island’s major hospitals.
She was initially suspected to have COVID-19 but subsequently tested negative for the infectious disease.
According to her sister Shanice Lloyd, who spoke to the Observer days after she died, Fearon arrived at the privately-run Andrews Memorial Hospital on April 23 and was being prepared for the delivery of her daughter.
However, she was transferred the following morning to Spanish Town Hospital in St Catherine, after requests for transfers to the University Hospital of the West Indies (UHWI) and Victoria Jubilee Hospital reportedly fell through.
It is alleged that the staff at Andrews Hospital refused to treat her because she was suspected to have contracted COVID-19. The hospital has refuted this.
Following the delivery of her baby at Spanish Town Hospital, Fearon was transferred to the University Hospital of the West Indies after reportedly developing complications.
She died later that day.
Her death triggered national outrage, with Prime Minister Andrew Holness describing the events leading up to it as “most upsetting”.
A criminal investigation has since been launched.
