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Emee Baldwin, Founder of Poppy's Purpose, is a nursing student and patient advocate with a success story about getting the attention of care providers and elected officials to re-evaluate the rules regarding patient visitation rights, particularly in the age of COVID-19. Emee and her family worked with their local representatives to make a law in Alabama where no patient will be alone every day. 

Emee elaborates, "So, last November, November of 2020, my grandfather, known to me as Poppy, was diagnosed with COVID-19. This was new to us, and it was new to everyone at the time. But to start with the background story, I was used to seeing my Poppy every single day. I grew up on a small family farm, so we were very close. If I didn't see him every day, I at least heard from him every day, so when he was first admitted to the hospital with COVID-19, that first week, he was just on a regular floor up here in Huntsville, Alabama, which is where I live and where I go to school. So it was really odd being two miles away from him and not being able to get in to see him."

"Ultimately, he ended up passing away after a little over three weeks, and he was in the hospital just a little over three weeks, completely by himself. My grandfather was very involved in politics here in Alabama, so at his funeral, we had a lot of politicians there, a lot of legislators there. Right after the service was over, they came up to us, and they were like, "We've seen the hurt that your family went through. We saw it firsthand through you, and we want to make a change. We want to help y'all to overcome this. That way, other families don't have to battle what you went through."

@Emee_Elizabeth #PatientAdvocate #COVID #COVID19 #PatientRights

poppyspurpose.org

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