Woman says mom improperly discharged from VG because of flood

HALIFAX – A Windsor Junction woman said the province is putting her mother’s life at risk with a plan to discharge her from the Victoria General Hospital after a large flood hit the facility.

Bernadette Boyd’s 84-year-old mother was admitted to the Halifax Infirmary four weeks ago, and was one of the 50 patients to be displaced when a flood hit three floors of the Centennial Building on Sep. 24.

She suffers from numerous health problems including congestive heart failure, dementia, and a hernia in her bowel, and Boyd said she can’t be sent home to live on her own.

“Totally unacceptable,” Boyd told Global News. “If they send her home, I don’t know what will happen, and I guess that will be on their shoulders.”

She said initially her mom was displaced because of the flood, but then was moved to be discharged, and with none of her eight children in the immediate area, she worries her mother is not going to be well taken care of.

She accused health officials of only caring about clearing beds and not their patients.

Karen Mumford, senior director at Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, said the flood is not a factor in patient care, as physicians need to clear patients to be discharged.

“I can confidently say that no patients across our facilities here are being discharged inappropriately due to our flood,” Mumford said.

Mumford described Boyd’s unit as a transition unit, which would generally mean a patient would be getting ready to be relocated to another facility, or discharged to their own home.

Boyd said she’ll be reaching out to Health Minister Leo Glavine’s office as a next step.

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