A few weeks ago Legge was admitted to hospital in Twillingate due to health issues and the fact that she needed extra care.
Last week Legge was informed she needed to be in long-term care, but the nearest available bed in the Central Health system was in Buchans — three hours away from family and friends in the town she spent most of her life as a very active community member.
What concerns Legge’s family even more than the three-hour distance is the way in which hospital and Central Health staff informed Legge.
Legge’s great niece, Cynthia Fillier of Torbay, said that about midday on Wednesday Legge was told that she would be moved to Buchans the next morning. The only notice Legge’s son — who lives in Twillingate — received was a voicemail left on his phone and by the time he got home from work and heard the message, there was no one at Central Health who could answer questions because everyone had left for the day.
Fillier arrived in Twillingate Wednesday evening and began to ask questions at the hospital, but she was told no one was available to answer those questions that evening. On Thursday morning she met or called a number of people at Central Health about Legge’s situation.
“I asked them why they didn’t wait for family to be there when she was informed of the move,” Fillier said. “I was told that because she had signed paperwork and is of sound mind and body, that she could be given any clarification she needed or could raise any concerns she had,” Fillier said. “I said that’s not the point. Common sense, common courtesy would tell you … why would you go talk to a person of that age about something so emotional without someone else to be there from the family?
“They had spoken to her again (early Thursday morning) before we got to the hospital and she was very, very upset, very emotional. Then about 10 a.m. she was on her way to Buchans. We had been there from about 8 a.m. and she was very upset.”
Filler said that Legge had lived with her son in Twillingate and over the past few years has had home care. But, she said, it got to the point where Legge needed around-the-clock care and the son was unable to provide it by himself when the home-care workers left for the day.
Fillier said they had hoped Legge could be kept at the Twillingate hospital for another week or so to see if a local long-term care bed became available, or at least Legge would have time to get used to the idea that she would have to go to Buchans, away from the regular visits of family and friends.
Central Health, as other health-care boards in the province, has a policy that once a person is ready to be discharged from hospital for long-term care, that person has to take the first available bed in the geographical region covered by the board. The person can be moved closer to their hometown when a long-term bed becomes available in that area.
Fillier said everyone she spoke to at the hospital or Central Health told her that all policies, procedures and protocols were followed in the case.
“They could at least have given her a few days to adjust to thinking about the move,” Fillier said. “I would have liked to have seen some compassion. Forget the protocols and procedures for a second, and show some compassion and understanding. I’m sure that doesn’t just happen in this case, but in other cases and to other families as well.”
Fillier said she has been continuing to contact everyone about the issue from the province’s health minister to MHAs and MPs.
