‘We should have been able to be there with my dad’, local woman protests NHRMC/Novant Health’s visitation restrictions

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) —Today, a group of people gathered on the sidewalk in front of New Hanover Reginal Medical Center, protesting the hospital’s visitation restrictions. The restrictions have been enforced due to the recent uptick in COVID-19 cases locally.

“I don’t want any family to go through the hurt, the pain, and the anguish that my family has been through . We should have been able to be there with my dad,” said Joy Harman.

Joy Harman said her father had COVID-19 and was in ICU at New Hanover Regional Medical Center, and her family was told they would not be able to visit him as he underwent treatment.

“As soon as we pulled up at the hospital, they would’nt even let us go in the emergency room. They said ‘you will not enter this floor, we have a no visitor policy for COVID, and you will not enter’, and so we kept asking well at what point can we him, ‘you won’t see him until he’s about to take his last breath,’” said Harman. “I told the administration that I felt like that’s heartless and she told me ‘no, we’re trying to protect our community’”.

Harman says her father passed away during his stay at the hospital, and her family only able to visit him once during his time at NHRMC.

This morning, Harman stood alongside her mother, Mary Lillie Avery, protesting the visitation restrictions enforced due to COVID-19.

“They didn’t let us in the hospital until they had him in a paralytic medically induced coma, unable to talk and move. He couldn’t do anything, and we had previously facetimed him, that’s all we could do. He was laughing, telling jokes, praying with us. You know, he should have never died alone.”

Harman believes the visitation restrictions are putting additional stress on doctors and nurses, and that family members visiting would greatly help with patient recovery.

“They have so much extra weight, trying to care for the patients, trying to also carry the weight of facetiming the families, when if they would allow just one family member to sit and stay, they wouldn’t have that pressure. You know, and the family member could help their loved one heal,” said Joy Harman.

In a statement regarding the re-enforced visitation restrictions, a spokesperson with New Hanover Regional Medical Center/ Novant Health said:

“Our first priority is the safety of our patients and caregivers. While we value the role visitors play in supporting our patients, we are seeing a dramatic rise in Covid-19 cases in our community and we had to limit visitors to reduce the risk of exposure within our hospitals. We encourage everyone to take the steps necessary to stop the spread in the community. Get vaccinated if you haven’t already, wear masks, and maintain distancing. We will go back to our regular visitation policies when it is safe to do so.”