LouAnn Dagen, Michigan nursing home resident repeatedly asked Alexa for help (40 times) in the days leading up to her dying from coronavirus.
An elderly Michigan woman repeatedly asked Amazon‘s Alexa for help to deal with her pain in the days prior to her passing away from COVID-19.
LouAnn Dagen, died on Saturday, April 4, soon after having been admitted to Mercy Health Saint Mary’s emergency room in Grand Rapids.
The 66-year-old lived at the Metron of Cedar Springs nursing home where 31 residents and staff have tested positive for the coronavirus.
WOOD-TV reported that after the elderly’s death, her sister Penny Dagen discovered the recordings in the smart device. ‘Alexa, help me,’ LouAnn said in one of the at least 40 such recordings in the four days before she succumbed to the virus.
In the other recordings, Dagen can be heard saying things like, ‘I am in pain. I have to find a way to relieve it’, ‘Can you help me cope with pain?’, and ‘Oh, Alexa, I’m going to hurt’. She even asked the device, ‘How do I get to the police?’ The recording also showed the device provided directions to the nearest police station.
According to her sister, through these recordings LouAnn wanted to share her story to help others understand how relentless the coronavirus is. Penny also stated that her sister was suffering from pain all over her body, and Metron was giving her a pain reliever.
‘I just kept telling her there wasn’t anything I could do,’ Penny said, adding, ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t help you more. I’d take your pain away.’
The old woman was a patient of diabetes and hypertension and had also suffered a stroke almost a decade ago. The medical examiner’s office confirmed her death, stating that she died due to ‘coronavirus infection, diabetes, and hypertension.’
Penny revealed that her sister had been short of breath early last week, but she was not taken to the hospital because the nursing home said that despite the coronavirus infection, LouAnn’s temperature was fine.
‘It wasn’t until Thursday that they started the saline solution because she was getting dehydrated. She just kept saying, ‘I’m thirsty.’ She didn’t drink anything, though,’ Penny told WOOD-TV.
She added that on Saturday morning, LouAnn’s oxygen level and blood pressure dropped suddenly following which she was taken to the ER at Mercy Health Saint Mary’s, where she died.
‘The hospital called me right away and said that they put her on a respirator… They asked me about giving her CPR if her heart stopped and I said, ‘No, she didn’t want that.’ And then her heart stopped and that was it. A half-hour after they called,’ Penny mentioned.
‘She was such a talented girl. Very, very smart” as she played piano, organ, and guitar, and had also tried ventriloquism,’ Penny reiterated.
‘It’s good to know she’s not in pain anymore, but I still miss her. She’s up in heaven now so she’s pain-free, and she’s walking… with my mom and my dad, so I have to be happy for her,’ Penny added.
