Nursing home resident asks Alexa for help before succumbing to coronavirus

LouAnn Dagen died as a result of coronavirus and diabetes/hypertension on Saturday, according to Global News.

The 66-year-old was one of 31 Metron nursing home residents in Cedar Springs, Michigan who have contracted the virus.

LouAnn’s sister Penny Dagen was the one who found the recordings shortly after her death.

Penny said there were 40 recordings involving a woman asking for assistance with pain relief on LouAnn’s Amazon Echo Show.

One of the recordings says, “I am in pain. I have to find a way to relieve it. Can you help me with pain?”

“Alexa, help me,” she says in another recording. “Oh, Alexa, I’m going to hurt.”

One of the recordings reportedly catches LouAnn asking Alexa to contact the police. Alexa’s response included directions to the nearest police station.

“I just kept telling her there wasn’t anything I could do,” said Penny, “I’m sorry I couldn’t help you more. I’d take your pain away, but she’s up in heaven now, so she’s pain-free.”

“She’s walking, and she’s with my mom and dad,” Penny said of her departed sister.

Penny mentioned that hospital staff called her on Saturday.

“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,'” Penny said while speaking with WOOD-TV. “And then her heart stopped and that was it. A half-hour after they called.”

Paul Pruitt, the director of operations at the nursing home told The New York Post that LouAnn’s Amazon Alexa was the main way she kept in contact with Penny.

“She could call her sister through the device, and they communicated often,” he said. “It was a very positive part of her life, which we supported fully.”

“Due to patient privacy regulations, we cannot share information about an individual resident’s physical or mental health while they are in our care. However, we can share that LouAnn was getting excellent care and that our team was following both her advanced directives and clinical practice guidelines to manage her pain and symptoms.”

He noted that LouAnn was sent to the hospital immediately when the nursing home noticed that her symptoms were worsening.