Couple forced to kiss goodbye... 69 year marriage... sent to separate care homes

hlat

The Living Force
FOTCM Member
http://metro.co.uk/2017/12/20/couple-forced-kiss-goodbye-following-69-year-marriage-getting-sent-separate-care-homes-7174643/

Couple forced to kiss goodbye following 69 year marriage after getting sent to separate care homes

Georgia Diebelius for Metro.co.uk Wednesday 20 Dec 2017 2:51 pm

An elderly couple were forced to kiss one another goodbye following 69 years marriage this week after being sent to separate care homes.

Herbert and Audrey Goodine have been together for 73 years in total, spending the last three years together in a home.

However Herbert, who suffers from dementia, recently underwent a health assessment which found he should move to a new care home 45 minutes away.

In a heartbreaking clip filmed by the couple’s daughter, Dianne Phillips, the pair kiss one another goodbye.

Audrey can be heard telling Herbert that she will be ‘jealous’ of other women at his new facility, as they will get to spend time with him.

Ms Phillips said her mum then stood at the window in New Brunswick, Canada, and watched as a van took Herbert away on Monday – one week before Christmas.

Posting on Facebook, Ms Phillips – who says she understands why her dad has to be moved, but wishes the home had waited until after Christmas, said: ‘When talking to my parents yesterday I listened to my mother weep and I could hear my father in the background.

‘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.” I assured her that I tried everything to keep them together a few more days.

‘My parents have been together for a total of 73 years and still sleep in the same bed. I feel people need to know what a flawed system we have in place. Two words describe it “unethical and cruel”.’

The post was shared more that 17,800 times.

Speaking to Globalnews.ca, Mr Goodine said: ‘You’d laugh if you knew how I met her. I still laugh about it myself. I was out of my house — of my flat — and I looked through the crack in the wall and I saw her. And I never forget it.’

A spokesperson for the Victoria Villa care home, where the couple were living, said she cannot comment on specific cases.

She stressed, however, that the home is only for residents who need ‘a little bit’ of supervision, whereas Mr Goodine’s new home can offer more.
 
Dear god...

I can just hear the conversation:

"Can we move my mother to the other facility to be with him?"

"Nope, sorry, not enough beds, special care facility, blah blah blah..."

"Can we get more beds there?"

"Nope, sorry, spent 1 billion on a stupid boat that barely floats and breaks down every five minutes - but it looks, like, so cool!!"

:headbash: :cry:
 
What an uncaring system, and the people administering said system, that allows something like this to happen to an elderly couple, just before Christmas.
Sickening. :mad:
 
If I were the kids of that couple, I'd be seeing an atty.

On the other hand, why can't they gather family resources to take care of the parents themselves?
 
Owners of special care home receive death threats after report about separated seniors goes viral
https://www.google.hr/amp/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4462659
 
I think this problem is pretty common. We have had stories like this locally.

https://globalnews.ca/news/2960021/watch-bc-couple-married-for-62-years-reunited-after-being-placed-in-different-care-homes/

I think relying on the system really opens your eyes to it's complete ineffectiveness.
 
Redrock12 said:
What an uncaring system, and the people administering said system, that allows something like this to happen to an elderly couple, just before Christmas.
Sickening. :mad:

The system is bad. It puts a premium on learning how a system works and exactly what steps to take in order to get the system to output a decent result.

Laura said:
On the other hand, why can't they gather family resources to take care of the parents themselves?

I don't know if it's purely an American thing, a Western thing, or whether it has become worldwide. For decades, I've noticed Americans putting their elderly parents into institutions instead of taking care of them in their own homes. It was in stark contrast to poor immigrant communities having grandparents, parents, children, aunts, uncles, cousins, and other multi families cramped together under one roof. The poor did it without money so it's not a question of having enough money.

I think this is a symptom of people focused on self and unwilling to take care of each other no matter what the bonds, whether they be parents, children, family, friends.
 
Back
Top Bottom