#AliceWong
#ForTinu

😭

It’s been a month since Tinu’s passing and we still don’t have mandatory masks in healthcare. Something Tinu both NEEDED & fought for.

Someone with Long Covid going through chemo deserved to be SAFE while getting her care.

She deserved NOT to be given COVID again

There are many others like Tinu. We can’t know how many we’ve lost - but what we DO know is we will lose more if we don’t start mitigating Covid - especially in hospitals.

We know how Covid is spread. We know how to stop it. Yet we still have doctors saying they don’t want to mask because they’re not worried about THEIR risk. They’re forgetting the fact that the patients feel differently.

Patients care. Patients are putting their full trust in you to make them better. They’re trusting you NOT to make them worse.

Hospital acquired Covid has a fatality rate around 10% - and still we do nothing. In many instances we act like it’s just “the cost of doing business”. It’s not and it should never be acceptable to contract covid in the hospital.

I’ve said it once and I will say it again - if you’re sick enough to need the hospital the last thing you need is Covid.

If you’re a healthcare worker - please wear a mask. You don’t have to wait for a mandate to do the right thing. You can choose - right now - to stop chains of transmission. You can show patients that you’re on their side and committed to ensuring they get through their hospital visit without contracting COVID. You can tell us that our lives and long term health matters.

Hospitals, healthcare workers and society all failed Tinu. She fought so hard - for herself and for others. She knew that it would likely be hospital acquired Covid that killed her - and she did everything she could to raise awareness so it wouldn’t happen to anyone else.

Let’s keep fighting in her honour. Clean the air, ventilate, make masks mandatory, provide free respirators and isolate when sick. It’s not hard. We can do it.

https://www.disabledginger.com/p/a-plea-to-maskless-healthcare-workers

#forTinu #CovidIsAirborne #CovidCautious #CovidIsNotOver #CleanAir #WearaMask #Disability #LongCovid #Ableism #Denial #CleanAir #Pandemic #PublicHealth #InfectionControl #Eugenics #SafeHealthcare #N95 #Respirators #MasksWork #MaskUp #Spoonie #Discrimination #Dysautonomia #mecfs #pots #mcas #communitycare #wearamask #chronicillness #keepmasksinhealthcare #MaskBans #NoMaskBans

This was hands down one of the hardest articles I’ve ever had to write - my plea to maskless healthcare workers from vulnerable patients.

I’ve dedicated it to @Tinu - a Long Covid patient and disability advocate who passed away three weeks ago.

She had cancer - and the healthcare workers treating her refused to mask.

This MUST stop. Patients both need and deserve protection.

You CHOSE to work in healthcare. We didn’t CHOOSE to be sick. We would rather be anywhere other than the hospital.

We need you to help us get better - which is virtually impossible when you’re constantly exposing us to a deadly and disabling virus.

Tinu’s first Covid infection left her completely disabled - and then she developed cancer as well. How callous do you need to be to refuse to mask for someone like her?

I hope my article honours her memory - as well as encourages healthcare workers to think a bit differently. It’s not about YOU and whether you feel you’re at risk. It’s about your patients who ARE at risk.

We need you to do the right thing - mandate or not. Do it for Tinu. Do it for me. Do it for all your patients who are scared in your care. Do it for the next generation who needs us to protect them. Put the mask on.

https://www.disabledginger.com/p/a-plea-to-maskless-healthcare-workers

#CovidIsAirborne #CovidCautious #CovidIsNotOver #CleanAir #WearaMask #Disability #LongCovid #Ableism #Denial #CleanAir #Pandemic #PublicHealth #InfectionControl #Eugenics #SafeHealthcare #N95 #Respirators #MasksWork #MaskUp #Spoonie #Discrimination #Dysautonomia #mecfs #pots #mcas #communitycare #wearamask #chronicillness #keepmasksinhealthcare #MaskBans #NoMaskBans #fortinu

The community coming together to honor @Tinu is beautiful and heartbreaking. I miss her.

I've been helping with tech and breakout rooms. But I'm also crying and grieving.

Tinu's fierce love for our community, righteous anger toward injustice, and her fight for accessibility is the core of her. A bastion of hope, and I'm forever grateful for her words and being able to be present with her.

She assisted disabled.social mods, and I'm forever grateful for her wisdom.

I miss you, Tinu.

#ForTinu

It feels so fucking wrong that #ForTinu is gone.

We're doing her memorial rehearsal today and I don't know how the fuck to get through it. DO I dress up? Do I pretty myself up for my friend, or do I save it for her funeral tomorrow? I can't believe we're doing this.

We're having an online funeral for a superhero.

Superheros die. And no one told me so I wasn't prepared for this at all I need her back right fucking now.

"In loving memory of Atinuke Abayomi Paul (Tinu), beloved daughter, granddaughter, aunt, cousin, friend, writer and activist. Taken from us far too soon on September 26, 2024.

In 2022, Tinu, a devoted advocate and volunteer for Black women and disabled people, was hospitalized with COVID pneumonia which led to a resurfacing of her cancer. She also had Long COVID & ME/CFS.

Her family needs our help for funeral, medical expenses, housing, loss of income and other costs. Tinu's family needs our support, she was there for various communities and it's our turn to help her back by supporting her family. Please share this fundraiser with the hashtag #ForTinu

Also, please help advocate for and enact public health policies that center the people who are most impacted by and high risk for COVID, especially people like Tinu. As Tinu wrote, "if you would wear a ribbon for a cancer patient, you should be wearing a Mask for Everyone".

Tinu has done so much for the community, please help support her last wishes and help take care of her funeral costs and her family.""

Currently this is 62.2% funded.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/honoring-tinus-legacy-with-compassionate-support

I just heard that @Tinu has walked on. She was always so supportive even when she had her own very hard struggles.

Sending up smoke for her journey home.

Help if you can #ForTinu

https://www.gofundme.com/f/honoring-tinus-legacy-with-compassionate-support

My heart is crying as I just been informed a beloved friend, Tinu, has passed.

She was an amazing woman, mother, friend, activist, writer. One of the best souls I've ever met.

She helped me raise money to escape a very abusive home. And now her family are in need, to raise the funds to cover for her funeral.

Please, please share this.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/honoring-tinus-legacy-with-compassionate-support

#ForTinu #Cancer #Funeral #GoFundMe #MutualAid #MutualAidRequest