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Eddie Joyce, MHA for the District of Bay of Islands, says a recommendation
in the Hay Report that long-term care patients waiting for a bed in Corner
Brook should be transferred to Stephenville should be immediately dismissed
by government. Recommendation 172 of the Best Practices Review for the
Western Health Care Corporation states that elderly people on the wait list
for long-term beds should be transferred to Sir Thomas Roddick Hospital
until appropriate space is available in Corner Brook for their return
transfer.
"This recommendation is absolutely unacceptable," said Mr. Joyce. "This
was the same recommendation that was brought forward to the former
administration and it was immediately rejected. It is not appropriate to
move elderly people away from their families and friends during the last
years of their lives.
"Minister Ottenheimer has already stated that certain parts of these
reports will not even be considered by government. I call upon Premier Danny
Williams and Humber East MHA Tom Marshall to dismiss this recommendation
outright. If parts of the report have already been dismissed, a
recommendation this cruel to our elderly people should also be dismissed.
"Premier Williams committed to building the long-term care facility in
Corner Brook within a four year period. He now has under three years to
fulfill this election promise. If he is serious about addressing the issue
of long-term care in the Corner Brook-Bay of Islands area, I suggest he
immediately set aside the necessary funds in the upcoming budget to have
this facility constructed.
"Asking people to live out the final years of their lives with strangers,
without easy access to family and friends, and no guarantee they will ever
move back to Corner Brook, is unacceptable. I call upon Corner Brook City
Council and the Long-Term Care Advisory Committee to lobby government to
have this recommendation removed from consideration.
"This is only a knee-jerk reaction to a problem that needs to be
addressed. The real solution is to stop the excuses and move forward with
the new long-term care facility that was promised in the last provincial
election."
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