DAUGHTER'S ANGUISH

Mum feels forgotten by the Government, that her life is not worth the same, she worries for care staff who’ve all become friends. And I feel helpless in it all

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Care homes have become the most tragic battlefield in society’s war against the coronavirus. A quarter of Scotland’s deaths from Covid-19 have been in care homes, where our most vulnerable loved ones live. Jenn Nimmo-Smith is one of many daughters or sons who has a parent there. The 33-year-old, who works as a senior publicist in the music and events industries, had to make the difficult decision to put her beloved mum Kathleen, 60, in a nursing home after she had a stroke. Kathleen, who worked in the fundraising office at CHAS in Kinross, where they used to live, also has two other daughters. Both are younger than Jenn and now live in Canada.

Is this going to be the time they tell me that coronavirus has been detected?

Thankfully for us, I haven’t received that dreaded phone call yet but, of course, many people across Scotland have – and my heart aches for each and every person who has lost a loved one.

My mum Kathleen has been in a care home since my dear dad Andy died three years ago.

She had a pretty catastrophic stroke in 2011 and my dad had been her full-time carer until he passed away. It takes a very special kind of person to care for others and my dad was all of this and more.