Care home separates longtime N.B. couple
• An elderly New Brunswick couple bid a tearful goodbye this week, separated just days before Christmas after 73 years together.
Herbert a nd 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, spendi ng t he l ast t hree years together at the Victoria Villa Special Care Home in Perth-Andover, N.B.
But after a recent assessment of Herbert’s health, officials decided the home could no longer accommodate him because the 91-yearold’s dementia had progressed to a point where he needs a higher level of care.
Dianne Phil l i ps, t he 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.