N.B. nursing home residents living without hot water for a month

Mount St. Joseph Nursing Home care workers have been finding creative ways to deal with a lack of hot water for more than a month.

"Last night when I was getting ready for bed and was going to wash up a little bit and the girl wet the cloth and put them in the microwave to warm them," resident Patsy Stewart said.

The 133 residents have been without hot water since before Christmas when one of the two, 260-gallon water tanks stopped working.

The home has tried to find a solution but the hot water still isn't circulating efficiently.

Stewart, who is also president of the home's resident's association, says when the problem wasn't fixed after a few days she contacted her MLA, Bill Fraser.

Fraser says a nursing home without hot water is unacceptable.

"We're talking about vulnerable people here who have served our province well, who are living in a facility that they call their home and it's inhumane that they have to live in the conditions that they're living in," he said.

Fraser says he contacted Social Development Minister Madeleine Dubé on Christmas Eve.

Dubé responded immediately, promising to follow up with the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure.

Fraser told CBC News he was under the impression that the problem had been resolved.

Residents call for new facility

Mount St. Joseph Nursing Home is a 40-year-old, four-storey building that was scheduled to be replaced under the last provincial government.

The current Alward government decided to cancel that plan and instead spend $8 million renovating the nursing home.

Those renovations are supposed to be completed by the end of 2014, however the administration at Mount St. Joseph's says they have not heard anything about when that will begin.

Stewart says residents are "upset" and "don't like to wash up in cold water."

"It's plumbing right now, but the building is so old if they start fooling around with the tanks and the pipes — they're all inside the floors and the ceiling and once they start at one end they're going to have to tear the whole thing," Stewart said.

"What they need is a new building but that's not a go I guess."  

The CEO of the nursing home refused to comment on Tuesday. She told CBC News she had to first meet with her board of directors.