Close X
Monday, November 25, 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

    Report Lays Out Exercise Guidelines For Kids Under 5, Including 'Tummy Time' For Babies

    Report Lays Out Exercise Guidelines For Kids Under 5, Including 'Tummy Time' For Babies
    The new report was developed by experts including the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology; obesity specialists at Ottawa's Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario; and the non-profit group ParticipAction.

    Report Lays Out Exercise Guidelines For Kids Under 5, Including 'Tummy Time' For Babies

    Apology To Canadians Persecuted For Being Gay Coming Nov. 28: Justin Trudeau

    OTTAWA — Martine Roy was just 20-years-old and less than a year into her chosen career as a medical assistant with the Canadian Armed Forces at CFB Borden when military police suddenly showed up at her workplace to arrest her.

    Apology To Canadians Persecuted For Being Gay Coming Nov. 28: Justin Trudeau

    Abbotsford Const. John Davidson Didn't Like Guns, But Didn't Hesitate When Call Came

    Abbotsford Const. John Davidson Didn't Like Guns, But Didn't Hesitate When Call Came
    An Abbotsford, B.C., police constable killed in the line of duty was remembered as dedicated and caring, a man who had a gut-busting sense of humour and a dislike for guns.

    Abbotsford Const. John Davidson Didn't Like Guns, But Didn't Hesitate When Call Came

    Man And Woman Charged With Manslaughter In July Homicide In Burnaby Starbucks

    Man And Woman Charged With Manslaughter In July Homicide In Burnaby Starbucks
    Lawrence Sharpe, 40, And Oldouz Pournouruz, 35, Arrested In Relation To The Death Of Michael Page-vincelli

    Man And Woman Charged With Manslaughter In July Homicide In Burnaby Starbucks

    Motorcycle Injuries In Ontario Twice As Costly To Treat As Those From Car Collisions

    Motorcycle Injuries In Ontario Twice As Costly To Treat As Those From Car Collisions
     new study suggests motorcyclists in Ontario are three times more likely to be injured in a collision than people in automobiles, 10 times more likely to suffer serious injuries, and those injuries will cost more to treat.

    Motorcycle Injuries In Ontario Twice As Costly To Treat As Those From Car Collisions

    Taking From the Rich

    Taking From the Rich
    The first change intends to eliminate “income sprinkling,” where income is distributed to family members who earn less in order to take advantage of a lower income tax rate.

    Taking From the Rich