Dominick Benoit’s story first came to light nearly four months ago.
The 10-year-old boy has been living in a hospital for almost a year even though he doesn’t need to be.
It seems a lot of people are talking about helping Benoit, but after almost a year, very little has changed.
“Dominick is still living in the hospital,” says his mother Renee Benoit. “I’m driving back and forth.”
She lives in Truro while her son is living at the Valley Regional Hospital in Kentville.
Dominick has severe spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy, but there is no immediate health reason for him to be in the hospital.
He simply doesn’t have anywhere else to go, and it’s been that way for a year.
“I just want him close to home,” adds his mother Renee. “I want this over and done with. I want my life back.”
Benoit says she knows work is being done, and there is a possible solution for Dominick at a special care home in Truro.
However, she says the home won’t take Dominick until the hospital is on board, but the hospital won’t get on board until the move is a sure thing.
None of the people involved with sorting out this issue were available for interviews on Monday.
The home in Truro says it can’t speak to specific cases for privacy reasons, and the hospital in Truro directed CTV’s questions to the Department of Health,
The Health Minister wasn’t available for comment, but a spokesperson says the department is continuing to work with the family.
Brenda Hardiman runs an advocacy group to help parents whose children have fallen through the cracks.
“The key people need to get together,” explains Hardiman. “Come up with a solution and implement it. It shouldn’t take a year. It’s a sin.”
“Even though this home is a really good possible placement, I’m still having a hard time believing that it could actually happen,” says Dominick’s mother, Renee. “I’ve just been through too much.”
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kayla Hounsell
