AHS promises senior will stay in Alberta
An Alberta Health Services spokesman says the agency isn’t planning to send an elderly hospital patient out of the province for long term care — but her relatives say they’ve not yet received any guarantees she can stay.
Inez Allen, 81, moved to Calgary from New Brunswick six weeks ago to be close to her family. But weeks after arriving, she had a stroke that left her bedridden and struggling to speak.
According to grandson Kevin French, she now requires 24-hour nursing home care — and medical staff told the family that under provincial rules, the senior hadn’t lived in Alberta long enough to be eligible for long-term care here.
On Sunday, AHS spokesman Don Stewart said the health authority is still trying to determine a care plan for Allen but isn’t planning to send her to New Brunswick.
“The transfer back to New Brunswick is not one of the things being looked at,” he said. “We’re tying to work with the family to look after her here.”
But French said he placed dozens of calls to AHS over the weekend and received little in the way of confirmation his grandmother can stay.
“They’ve told us absolutely nothing.”
According to French, the family met with senior hospital officials Thursday and Friday. While they expressed sympathy, he said, they told the family the senior faced two options: pay up to $2,000 a week for private care, or return to New Brunswick.
The family hopes to meet with an AHS vicepresident Monday or early this week to figure out Allen’s future for certain.
“We’re not going to jump up and down and say she’s staying until we hear from someone,” French said.
An AHS spokesman said last week it would be “unfair” to Alberta residents waiting in the province’s long queues for longterm care beds to allow non-residents to get on the list.