Close X
Monday, November 11, 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

    Woman Charged After Altercation That Injured Baby In Toronto, Police Say

    TORONTO — A woman is facing five charges, including attempted murder, after a four-month-old baby girl and a man were stabbed and assaulted in a condominium in Toronto's west end, police said Thursday.

    Woman Charged After Altercation That Injured Baby In Toronto, Police Say

    Two Toronto Men Arrested On Drug Charges After Getting Lost At The Border

    Two Toronto Men Arrested On Drug Charges After Getting Lost At The Border
      The RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency say in a joint statement that the men were travelling in a rental vehicle in the Niagara Region on Nov. 22, near the Peace Bridge, when they took a wrong turn to the U.S. border.

    Two Toronto Men Arrested On Drug Charges After Getting Lost At The Border

    CREA Cuts 2017, 2018 Forecast Due To Incoming Tighter Mortgage Rules

    CREA Cuts 2017, 2018 Forecast Due To Incoming Tighter Mortgage Rules
    The association now forecasts a 5.3 per cent drop in national sales to 486,600 units next year. That new estimate shaves about 8,500 sales from its previous 2018 forecast.

    CREA Cuts 2017, 2018 Forecast Due To Incoming Tighter Mortgage Rules

    Hillary Clinton Says Dem's Surprise Win In Alabama A 'Turning Point' Against Trump

    Hillary Clinton Says Dem's Surprise Win In Alabama A 'Turning Point' Against Trump
    Hillary Clinton says the Democratic party's surprise win in Alabama during Tuesday's senate race in the United States marks a "turning point" for Americans who are opposed to President Donald Trump.

    Hillary Clinton Says Dem's Surprise Win In Alabama A 'Turning Point' Against Trump

    Toy Makers Turn To Youtube Influencers To Advertise Ahead Of Holidays

    Toy Makers Turn To Youtube Influencers To Advertise Ahead Of Holidays
    Like many kids, Ryan spends his time playing with toys. But, unlike most of his peers, millions of people watch the six-year-old boy open and test toys — a performance that has earned him millions of dollars.

    Toy Makers Turn To Youtube Influencers To Advertise Ahead Of Holidays

    B.C. Man Found Guilty Of Polygamy Believed He Couldn't Be Prosecuted: Lawyer

    CRANBROOK, B.C. — The lawyer for a British Columbia man found guilty of marrying two dozen women says his client believed he could not be prosecuted for polygamy.

    B.C. Man Found Guilty Of Polygamy Believed He Couldn't Be Prosecuted: Lawyer