Seniors’ advocate needed in Sask.: NDP

A man whose 93-year-old mother has been shuffled between two rural long-term care homes is adding his voice to the growing chorus for a provincial seniors’ advocate in Saskatchewan.

Emily Krushelnicki was born and raised in Ituna, Sask. Her son, Garry Krushelnicki, says she’s lived in the small town her whole life – almost.

She did live at a seniors’ home in Foam Lake for a brief stint. Garry was the one who broke the news to Emily she would have to move from the lodge in Ituna to the other town about one-hour’s drive away.

“When I told her that she said she wants to die right there,” said Krushelnicki. “I was heartbroken. I didn’t like that at all. I’m close to my mom.”

“She did not want to go. She cried there. Well, so did I.”

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Emily has an enlarged heart and high blood pressure, according to her son. He says Emily’s doctor was against moving her.

A letter from Dr. M. Beny to the Ituna Pioneer Health Care Centre released by the opposition NDP states, “This is to certify that this 93-year-old lady is known with congestive heart failure associated with shortness of breath, hypertension and many other co-morbidities…I recommend that she be allowed to stay in the Ituna Pioneer Lodge partly due to her current health fragility and partly due to her social connection to the community her in Ituna.”

Not so. Emily was transferred from her temporary bed to Foam Lake. Three weeks later, Garry picked her up in Foam Lake and brought her back to a permanent bed at the Ituna lodge. Garry claims Emily’s original bed was empty for two of those three weeks.

Garry says a seniors’ advocate would have been helpful in the weeks he was fighting to have his mother returned to Ituna.

“It would have saved me a lot of grief,” he said.

He says his mother is happier now, but he says he worries about other seniors.

“I’ve heard from a couple of seniors at the lodge there. They said, ‘we’re getting shifted around like cattle,’” said Garry.

The NDP is calling on the province to appoint a seniors’ advocate, using the Krushelnickis’ story to highlight the need.

Premier Brad Wall says the province has granted the provincial ombudsman more money to investigate health issues out of her office.

But that’s not what NDP Leader Cam Broten has in mind.

“An advocate is a great approach to take to address the system. To not look at a case as an ombudsman does once things have gone horribly wrong,” said Broten.

The premier says if the ombudsman tells him she’s too overwhelmed with individual seniors’ care cases, the province would consider appointing someone to do the work.

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