Close X
Wednesday, November 13, 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

    Cougar Judged A Risk To The Public Was Shot And Killed In Clearwater, B.C.

    RCMP Sgt. Grant Simpson says the animal was shot Tuesday after it was seen prowling through a subdivision in the municipality in B.C.'s North Thompson.

    Cougar Judged A Risk To The Public Was Shot And Killed In Clearwater, B.C.

    William Shatner Complains About Hamilton Condo Using His Name, Likeness

    William Shatner Complains About Hamilton Condo Using His Name, Likeness
    The "Star Trek" star, best known for playing Captain Kirk on the original series, set his lasers on the project — dubbed "Television City" — on Twitter.

    William Shatner Complains About Hamilton Condo Using His Name, Likeness

    Missing B.C. Woman Annette Poitras Found Alive Almost Three Days After She Disappeared

    Missing B.C. Woman Annette Poitras Found Alive Almost Three Days After She Disappeared
    COQUITLAM, B.C. — A Vancouver-area woman missing since Monday has been found alive after she disappeared while out walking three dogs.

    Missing B.C. Woman Annette Poitras Found Alive Almost Three Days After She Disappeared

    Richmond RCMP Release Sketch Of School Grabbing Suspect

    Richmond RCMP Release Sketch Of School Grabbing Suspect
    Mounties Say A Man Was Taking Photos Near Whiteside Elementary School, And Grabbed A Girl As She Ran Past Him

    Richmond RCMP Release Sketch Of School Grabbing Suspect

    Word-Flipping Victoria Boy Gets William Shatner's Support For Invented Word

    Word-Flipping Victoria Boy Gets William Shatner's Support For Invented Word
    When six-year-old Levi Budd saw the word stop on a sign, he created the word pots. Before long, he was imagining words backwards and coming up with rats from star and pets from step.

    Word-Flipping Victoria Boy Gets William Shatner's Support For Invented Word

    UBC Denies Mishandling Sex Assault Complaints In Response To Human Rights Cases

    The University of British Columbia has denied mishandling sexual assault reports in documents filed with the province's human rights tribunal.

    UBC Denies Mishandling Sex Assault Complaints In Response To Human Rights Cases