Island man, 96, prepping his house to win return of his wife from nursing home
Jim Munves feels return of wife, Barbara, to their home in Charlottetown is 'imminent'
Jim Munves, 96, is having a motion detector and alarm system installed in his Charlottetown home. He has also hired round-the-clock care givers and is hammering out other details of a care plan.
It's all to win the release of his wife, Barbara, who is living in a local nursing home under orders from the province.
"In total, Barbara's been there more than three months in the dementia unit, which is not the best environment for her," Munves said. "She had a very rich, full life living here."
Barbara Munves, 87, was diagnosed with dementia following a stroke in 2013. The couple, married 45 years, had been living together in their two-storey home. That changed when Jim Munves went into hospital for hip surgery in January. He arranged for his wife to live temporarily at a nursing home while he recuperated.
On Feb. 21, while Jim Munves was still in hospital, the province executed an emergency intervention. That document, signed by the minister of health and now on file in P.E.I. Supreme Court, gave health officials authority for Barbara Munves to "be removed ... to such place as appropriate for the protection of the adult."
"My understanding was Barbara was in a respite bed in Atlantic Baptist [Nursing Home] but when I got out of the rehab ... I was told she couldn't come home with me," Munves said. "And I got very upset because I'd been given to understand she was going to come home."
Supreme Court hearing scheduled
A court hearing next week in P.E.I. Supreme Court will attempt to determine what lies ahead for the couple. The province is asking the court to place Barbara Munves under a protective intervention order for another 12 months.
But documents on file at court suggest the province may also be willing to allow Barbara Munves to go home, under certain conditions.
A draft of the proposed intervention order lists several requirements the Munves must meet. Those requirements include installation of an alarm system, round-the-clock care givers, and visits to the home by an adult protection worker.
Resolution may be near, according to Munves' lawyer.
"We've been talking to the province ... Jim has a care plan in place," said lawyer Gary Scales. "Jim and Barbara belong together."
The ordeal has turned Munves, a Second World War veteran, into an advocate for the rights of seniors. He said he wasn't kept informed by the province about what was going on as the legal wheels began to turn.
"There are probably other people in the same boat that we were ... and we should probably get the Adult Protection Act changed," Munves said. "It doesn't make it emphatic enough that the family or the main care giver need to be consulted when decisions are made."
Province says safety is top concern
The province has not directly responded to CBC about the Munves' situation or Jim Munves' calls for changes to the Act.
An emailed statement from Health PEI reads in part, "The vulnerable adult or a person(s) with supervisory responsibility, if appropriate, will be involved as fully as possible in the decision-making process ... Our primary concern is always for the safety and well-being of Islanders, especially our most vulnerable populations, such as seniors."
Jim Munves has no legal standing at next Wednesday's Supreme Court hearing. His lawyer has applied for intervenor status on his behalf.
But Munves remains hopeful his wife will soon be home.
"We'll just try to settle down and live our lives the way we did," Munves said. "I don't know [when] but I feel it's imminent."