Woman blasts plans to move her elderly mother 75 km away in Corner Brook hospital shuffle

Kim Sheehan says she was told earlier this month that her mother wasn’t being transferred to the new Corner Brook hospital but going to Stephenville Crossing instead. (Amy Feehan/CBC)

While long-term care patients at the Western Regional Memorial Hospital in Corner Brook are scheduled to make the move to a new facility this weekend, one woman says her mother is being sent much farther away.

Kim Sheehan of Deer Lake said she expected her mother to be transferred to the new hospital but was told earlier this month by hospital management that she was being moved instead to the Bay St. George long-term care centre in Stephenville Crossing, farther south on Newfoundland's west coast.

For Sheehan, what had been a round trip of about 110 kilometres from Deer Lake to see her mother will now be about 240 kilometres. For her 87-year-old father in Benoit's Cove, it's now a 200-kilometre trip from Benoit's Cove to see his wife.

Kim Sheehan said the news was upsetting and unacceptable.

"I have no comfort right now on what the plan is for Mom. There's been no comfort given to me as family or the rest of the family. It's just been a very cold-hearted decision made by government," Sheehan told CBC News.

"And it's unfair. It's unjust, and I don't think they should be putting families through this, especially when you have family members that are sick."

Her mother, 83-year-old Luella Sheehan, had a stroke on Jan. 30, fell and broke her hip and wrist, Kim Sheehan said, and has been in the hospital ever since.

Sheehan said the past few months have been difficult for the family, who make efforts to visit her mother and care for her.

"I've been her life support. Our family has been her life support to get her through these last few months," she said.

WATCH | Kim Sheehan says it's unjust and unfair to move her mother farther away for medical care:

Sheehan said she wanted to bring her mother home for care, which would require ramps, a wheelchair and home care support, but hospital management didn't follow up on helping arrange it.

She said they've been forgotten by the government and the provincial health authority, and the district's MHA says they're not the only ones.

Call to halt move

Humber-Bay of Islands MHA Eddie Joyce said he started getting messages last week from people who said they'd abruptly been told their loved ones were being moved to facilities outside Corner Brook — including someone who's being moved to Burgeo, 215 kilometres away.

"This is very disturbing to me. It's very disturbing to the family members," he told CBC News.

"It's cruel. It should never happen.… This is just unbelievable to do this to seniors and people who need long-term care without moving them away from families. It should be stopped."

MHA Eddie Joyce says moving patients hours away from their loved ones is unacceptable. He's calling on Premier Andrew Furey to stop the transfer until a better solution can be found. (Elizabeth Whitten/CBC)

Family members are part of patient care, he said. Many of them visit every day, offer companionship and help with tasks like feeding.

Joyce said he's asking Premier Andrew Furey to put a halt to the move and to allow residents to stay in the hospital, which he said isn't closing and will still have services like administration and laundry, until a bed can be found for them closer to home.

Transfers about patient care, says health authority

Paulette Morgan, senior director of hospital and clinical services for Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services' Western zone, said while she couldn't speak on specific cases, recently completed renovations at the Bay St. George facility opened up 18 beds.

She said patients are being temporarily placed at the facility while they wait for spaces at other long-term care home to become available.

Across the health-care system there are different types of care, like home care services, community care, long-term care, personal-care homes and acute care, she said.

"This is about ensuring that the patients — and really patients are our priority in health care — their needs are met and they're, you know, associated with the facility or health-care facility or home that can meet their needs."

Morgan said she's aware that when elderly patients are admitted to acute care there are potential negative impacts, including social isolation, a decrease in activity and cognitive decline.

"Really, long-term care best meets their needs. They have programs to help support the needs of the patient to decrease isolation and various activities and support that acute care wouldn't have to support them."

The situation is not because the new hospital does not have enough beds, she said, pointing out that Corner Brook has two new long-term care facilities: the Corner Brook long-term care centre and the Western long-term care home.

"It's really challenging for families, but from a patient perspective, it is where they can get their care needs met."

Morgan said some patients would not have their specific needs met if they stayed at the old Western Memorial Hospital.

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