Close X
Sunday, November 24, 2024
ADVT 
National

Officials Separate Couple After 73 Years: 'I Listened To My Mother Weep'

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 19 Dec, 2017 12:30 PM
    PERTH-ANDOVER, N.B. — An elderly New Brunswick couple bid a tearful goodbye this week, separated just days before Christmas after 73 years together.
     
    Herbert and Audrey Goodine gave each other a peck on the lips and said goodbye Monday, moments before Herbert was driven to a new care residence about 45 minutes away.
     
    The couple have been married for 69 years, spending the last three years together at the Victoria Villa Special Care Home in Perth-Andover, N.B.
     

    This is one Sad Christmas story for Herbert and Audrey Goodine who reside at Victoria Villa Special Care Home in Perth...

    Posted by Dianne Goodine Phillips on Sunday, 17 December 2017
     
    But after a recent assessment of Herbert's health, officials decided the home could no longer accommodate him because the 91-year-old's dementia had progressed to a point where he needs a higher level of care.
     
    Dianne Phillips, the couple's daughter, said she was told last Friday her father would have to move.
     
    By Monday, a van carried him away to another home in Plaster Rock as Audrey stood by the window and watched him go.
     
    "I feel people need to know what a flawed system we have in place. Two words describe it 'unethical and cruel,'" she said in a Facebook post.
     
    "This should never take place to another human again."
     
    Phillips is upset the couple was separated a week before Christmas, saying it's mentally and emotionally difficult for her parents who had, up until now, shared a room and the same bed at the villa.
     
    Phillips said in the post that she understands her father requires a higher level of care, but felt the facility could have arranged for the couple to be separated after the holiday.
     
    "I listened to my mother weep and I could hear my father in the background," she said. "My mother said, 'Christmas is over for us now and this is the worst Christmas that we will ever have. Why could they not have waited till after the holidays.'"
     
    Jennifer Eagan of Victoria Villa told Global News she cannot comment on specific cases due to privacy, but stresses the home is a Level 2 facility for residents who need a little bit of supervision.
     
    Phillips said her father was assessed as being Level 3, while her 89-year-old mother is Level 2.
     
    The couple will be together for Christmas at their daughter's home in Fredericton.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    South Indian Cuisine Not Just Dosas And Idlis: Chef Hari Nayak

    South Indian Cuisine Not Just Dosas And Idlis: Chef Hari Nayak
    South Indian cuisine is "very underrated" and goes much beyond idlis and dosas, says New York-based Indian chef Hari Nayak, who he is also working hard to dispel misconceptions about Indian food in general in the West.

    South Indian Cuisine Not Just Dosas And Idlis: Chef Hari Nayak

    Victoria Ban On Single-Use Plastic Shopping Bags To Begin In July

    Victoria Ban On Single-Use Plastic Shopping Bags To Begin In July
    Councillors have given third reading to a bylaw that would fine businesses $100 if they sold or provided plastic bags.

    Victoria Ban On Single-Use Plastic Shopping Bags To Begin In July

    B.C. Woman Brain Injured In Crash As A Baby Gets Almost $1.2 Million In Damages

    B.C. Woman Brain Injured In Crash As A Baby Gets Almost $1.2 Million In Damages
    VANCOUVER — A woman has been awarded almost $1.2 million by the B.C. Supreme Court after her skull was fractured 17 years ago in a pedestrian crash when she was a baby.

    B.C. Woman Brain Injured In Crash As A Baby Gets Almost $1.2 Million In Damages

    Canadian Grocers Make $3m Per Year From Penny-Rounding: UBC Study

    Canadian Grocers Make $3m Per Year From Penny-Rounding: UBC Study
    VANCOUVER — Grocery stores across the country are cashing in on the demise of the penny, according to a young researcher at the University of British Columbia.

    Canadian Grocers Make $3m Per Year From Penny-Rounding: UBC Study

    Warning Issued After Violent East Vancouver Sex Assault

    Warning Issued After Violent East Vancouver Sex Assault
    The assault was reported to police on December 14th. A woman in her 20s was walking on Matheson Crescent towards SE Marine Drive when she was grabbed from behind by an unknown man with a knife.

    Warning Issued After Violent East Vancouver Sex Assault

    B.C. Ends Grizzly Bear Hunt, Calls It 'No Longer Socially Acceptable'

    B.C. Ends Grizzly Bear Hunt, Calls It 'No Longer Socially Acceptable'
    The B.C. government says public consultations have made it clear that killing grizzlies is no longer socially acceptable.

    B.C. Ends Grizzly Bear Hunt, Calls It 'No Longer Socially Acceptable'