It’s still hard for Shelly Harris to talk about her mother.
Glenna Jones, of Fredericton, passed away last month, less than eight months after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
“Every move, every change, you could just see it,” says Harris. “Everything, a little more of her gone.”
Harris says doctors have said her mother died sooner than she should have.
“Doctors have said, she failed a lot faster than she probably normally would have because of all the moves, all the instability.”
After her diagnosis, Harris’ mother lived in seven different facilities in seven months including one special care home that was found to house a marijuana grow-op.
Harris says her mother was placed in special care homes, when what she really needed was a nursing home where round the clock care would be provided.
“She was shuffled,” Harris explains. “For whatever reason, from three different special care homes because they weren’t adequate for my mom, it wasn’t the place for my mom.”
Jan Seely, the president of the New Brunswick Special Care Homes Association, says special care homes are not equipped to deal with advanced dementia patients.
Seely says there are vacancies in special care homes, but long waits for nursing home beds.
“In hospital and in the community,” She adds. “So I do know that, as a province, we have a limited number of beds and they’re very expensive and I think the province is looking at trying to find new ways to care for some residents and free up the beds in the hospitals.”
The province says dementia diagnoses are on the rise and it’s planning better accommodation.
The New Brunswick Government has already announced the addition of more than 700 special care beds, part of its nursing home renovation and replacement plan.
Shelley Harris says she’s still skeptical and wants to meet with the minister behind the plan.
Harris says she wants to ensure no one else’s parent suffers the same fate as her mother.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Andy Campbell
