North Battleford woman identified as victim of COVID-19

A North Battleford family is calling on the provincial government to be more transparent on where COVID-19 is present in Saskatchewan as they identify a 75-year-old sister, aunt and widow as one of the province’s first two coronavirus fatalities.

Alice Grove collapsed in her home Friday with breathing difficulty before being taken to Battlefords Union Hospital, where she died Saturday.

Her sister, Eleanor Widdowson, said Grove was put on a ventilator overnight.

“She had a fever, she was croaky-sounding, and incoherent at times because of buildup in the lungs,” Widdowson said.

Grove’s death certificate, confirmed by the attending physician, listed “super-imposed coronavirus” as one of the causes of her death. Her COVID-19 test came back positive after her death.

The former nurse’s aide at Saskatchewan Hospital had been living alone on a farm since the death of her husband.

Widdowson believes her sister contracted the virus on one of her many trips into North Battleford.

“We had warned her and warned her and warned her to stay at home,” Widdowson said. “But she’d get lonely. Anyone would, living out on a farm by themselves.”

The sisters last saw each other on March 13, when they met for coffee in town. The meeting forced Widdowson to self-isolate briefly after her sister’s death to ensure she hadn’t also been infected.

Widdowson and her family are upset that the provincial government hadn’t specified how many COVID-19 cases could be active in the North Battleford area.

The province has been listing total cases by geographic zone, with North Battleford listed in a “central” region that stretches from Alberta to Manitoba around Saskatoon.

Chief Medical Health Officer Dr. Saqib Shahab has cited concerns over patient privacy when asked about identifying communities with COVID-19 cases, saying listing a specific town or city could lead to identifying a patient.

But Widdowson said the information could have helped her stop her sister from going into town.

“People get so complacent and don’t observe all the rules,” she said. “(That’s) because they think it’s not there (in North Battleford).”

She is calling on the government to be more specific about cases and deaths. On Monday, the provincial government only said that Saskatchewan’s two COVID-19 deaths were people in their 70s located in “separate parts of the province.”

Grove’s battle with COVID-19 was hampered by a previous diagnosis of diabetes, and her sister said Grove’s body had been previously battered by a fight with cancer.

Ultimately, Widdowson was left with the decision to remove her sister from life support.

“You have to be sensible about it and not take treatment away from a possible 35-year-old that can get better, when you know the 75-year-old lady’s not going to get better,” she said.