Parkview Place resident dies just weeks after moving in

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This article was published 19/10/2020 (1431 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Pak Hang Lee was 102, and had been living in her own house for five decades prior to becoming a resident of Parkview Place long-term care home in Winnipeg.

Less than three weeks after moving in, Lee tested positive for COVID-19. A week after that (Oct. 6), she died of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.

Her death came days short of her 103rd birthday (Oct. 24).

“It was a shock,” her son, Albert, said Monday. “Although she tested positive, she was not showing symptoms. She was asymptomatic when she passed away.

“They kept reporting she was fine. She had no fever. She didn’t have a cough. She didn’t lose her sense of taste or smell. That’s why it was a very big shock to me.”

Dr. Brent Roussin, Manitoba’s chief provincial public health officer, confirmed Monday there have been 84 residents and staff at Parkview who have tested positive for COVID-19 since an outbreak was declared Sept. 16.

Seventy-three of the cases are residents; Lee is one of 10 to die of COVID-19.

Lee was born in Fuzhou, China, in 1917. She worked as a primary school teacher, and then at a bank with her older brother and one of her sisters, before returning to education as an administrator in Hong Kong.

After marrying Sam Ming Lee in 1952, she moved to Winnipeg, where the couple owned a grocery store and Oscars Restaurant in Selkirk. She also worked as a waitress at several Winnipeg restaurants from 1972, until retiring in 1984.

Lee is survived by two sons, two grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.

Albert said from Mississauga, Ont., both he and his brother (who lives in Oregon) tried for years to convince their mother to move to live with them.

“She said she didn’t want to move. She had lived in her house since 1972, all her friends were there, and she volunteered at the Winnipeg Chinese Senior (Association). She didn’t know anyone here.”

Albert said his mother was hospitalized for an infection in late July. By the time she recovered, and following a bout of pneumonia in early September, health officials ruled she couldn’t go home and would have to move into the first long-term care facility that had a bed available.

It turned out to be Parkview Place. Lee moved in Sept. 9, just seven days before a COVID-19 outbreak was declared.

“It’s not really anyone’s fault,” Albert said. “From what I understand, a staff member working there became infected and brought it into Parkview. Then, a number of other staff became infected, and then people living there.

“But as far as I can tell now, they’ve lost control.”

Albert said his mother’s funeral is Thursday, but with Manitoba’s latest pandemic restrictions, only five people can attend in person. He and other family members will watch the ceremony via the internet.

“The way she would want people to remember her is she was always willing to help people.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca