For many people, the holiday season is one of the most anticipated seasons of the year. Indeed, ’tis the season to be jolly, that’s why many look forward to celebrating this holiday with their family or loved ones. To be together on Christmas day is one of the few joys of this elderly couple, but this happiness has been abruptly taken away from them.
For the first time in their life, an elderly couple from Brunswick, Canada will be spending the Christmas season apart. Mr. and Mrs. Herbert and Audrey Goodine have been living under one roof together for more than seven decades and have been married for 69 years.
As they grow older, the elderly couple has spent the dusk of their lives in a special care home together. For the last three and a half years, the Goodine couple has been relying on the comfort and presence of one another as they sleep in one bed.
This year, as the Christmas day approaches, they will be separated from one another by the authorities from Victoria Villa Special Care Home in Perth-Andover, New Brunswick.
The authorities at the special care home decided that Herbert, who is already 91 years old with dementia, needed more specialized care than they could provide. Days before Christmas, the home officials notified the couple that Herbert needed to be taken to a different place.
This abrupt separation just days before the holiday deeply outraged the elderly couple’s daughter, Dianne Philipps. The enraged daughter appealed to the Department of Social Development to delay Herbert’s move until Christmas day, just so her parents could perhaps spend their final holiday together. However, her request was denied.
In a report published on National Public Radio, Philipps did not take the rejection kindly:
“And at this time of year, the way things took place, I feel that is abuse to seniors. It’s emotional abuse. It might not be physical, but I do believe it is emotional.”
On Monday morning, the elderly couple kissed each other goodbye as Herbert prepared to get carted off to his new special care home.
On the other hand, higher officials from the Department of Social Development claimed that their intention are for the best. In a report published on CBC, the department’s spokesperson Anne Mooers further explained their concerns:
“If it’s determined that a senior needs additional care or that their safety is potentially in jeopardy, the department works with the resident and family members to facilitate a move to an appropriate home.
Individuals who require a higher level of care than what can be provided in special care homes are moved to where their needs can be more appropriately met, such as in a nursing home or a memory care home.”
This heartbreaking story enraged people on social media as well. Check out some of their insights below:
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SOURCES: NPR | CBC
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