New Miramichi nursing home comes too late for one family
Veronica Jay may move to Ontario after waiting nearly a year for a nursing home bed for her husband
A Miramichi woman says the announcement of a new nursing home for the city is good news but comes too late for her husband who has already been in hospital for nearly a year waiting for an opening.
"It's wonderful, I'm glad it's coming to the Miramichi because it will serve all of the area but it's a little bit too late for me," Veronica Jay said during an interview on Tuesday on Information Morning Moncton.
The new home isn't expected to open for two to three years after the tendering process is complete.
"Bob will not be going to the new facility," Jay said, explaining that she expects he will get into one of the two existing nursing homes the new facility will eventually replace.
It's just very lonely — if Bob is anything he's just lonely.- Miramichi resident Veronica Jay
"He's been a year almost now in the hospital waiting so we're about eighth on the list now so hopefully we'll get in within the next six months or we may have to go to Ontario."
Jay says their children, who live in Ontario, are trying to find Bob a spot there.
"My children are doing the figures and they figure that I would not be able to live as I did when he goes in because of how much money the government takes so they're a bit concerned there," she said.
Community looks for short-term solution
Ray Arsenault, a member of the Miramichi Evangelical Ministerial Association, which has been lobbying for a new nursing home for the area, says the situation Veronica and Bob Jay are facing is typical.
He says the fact the new home is coming is wonderful, but in the meantime the community is looking for ways to improve the situation for seniors who currently have no choice but to live in the hospital for months.
"There's not much that we can do except we need to keep the seniors in their homes as long as we can possibly do that," he said.
Arsenault points out that according to numbers from the provincial government, it costs $1,500 per day to keep a senior citizen in the hospital and $250 per day in a nursing home while staying at home is even cheaper.
"We're talking about getting churches involved and getting people involved helping seniors in their homes. Some just need someone to come a few times a week to help wth simple tasks such as taking out the garbage."
"They don't want to be institutionalized, they don't want to go to the hospital, they want to stay in their own homes."
Jay agrees, saying she will be glad when her husband is finally moved from the hospital to a nursing home.
"There's nothing on the floor for them, there's no entertainment, there's no mixing with other people," Jay said.
"It's just very lonely — if Bob is anything he's just lonely."
Arsenault says it is heartbreaking to see seniors left in their hospital rooms with no stimulation.
He says over the holidays, a pastor visited the hospital with a group of carolers and when seniors heard the sound of the music many started to cry.
"Seniors were weeping at the sound of the Christmas carols simply because they hadn't received much stimulation whatsoever," he said.
"When these people die in the hospital waiting for a nursing home bed they have never seen the outside of the hospital because most of them they are confined to their rooms … they are just there waiting to die. They're like the Miramichi's walking dead."