Shame on Winnipeg

So today there is an article in the Winnipeg Sun newspaper here in Winnipeg in regards to a man who beat up his wife and is now sitting in the Remand centre. At first glance it seems that that is exactly where he belongs, on further inspection however, the Winnipeg Polices service should be seriously ashamed of themselves for arresting him in the first place. It seems that this man, who is now sitting in jail has alzheimers at such an advanced state that he asaulted his wife because he had no idea who she was. Working in a hospital, I see this type of fear and misplaced hostility in many of our alzheimers patients. I cannot even begin to imagine how scarry the world must be to a person who has no idea where he is, who anyone taking care of him is including his own family, is suffering panic attacks because of this and can even be so out of touch with reality that he doesn't even know exactly who he is anymore. This man's wife is now going public with her story to try and get help for her husband who is being incarcerated for an action which she firmly believes and medical research strongly suggests was not within his control.

Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard, who has taken up the family's cause, called the situation "appalling."
"The system should be operating so that there are places for people like Joe McLeod," Gerrard said. "He should never have ended up in jail in the first place, (but now) as fast as humanly possible he should be placed in an appropriate care home."

Would be nice if this were not anything but lip service......

The most shameful part of this story is the lack of appropriate services for a man such as this. It makes me wonder how many people are aware in the province of Manitoba that nursing homes and other care centres outside of hospitals are under no obligation whatsoever to take in a patient. From personal experince I know that nursing homes in this province get the opportunity to pick and choose who they will take and under what conditions. Due to the violence this man enflicted on his wife, his chances of being given housing in a personal care centre within this province are slim to none. If he doesn't die in jail, this mans family will be forced to endure watching him live out his final days in one of the city's hospitals. The amount of senours in this city who pass away in hospital waiting for a nursing home to accept them is astonishing. Until the province of Manitoba passes a law requiring nursing homes to take the patients that have been paneled for care, this will continue to happen. Its time for families such as this man's family to stand up and demand equality in nursing home placements. If a person has a right to adequate care as they age then the right of nursing homes to turn down patients that aren't within thier preferences needs to be abolished.

Shame on the Provincial Government of Manitoba for allowing such practices and shame on the Winnipeg Police service for arresting this man in the first place.

I wish the McLeod family the best of luck in thier struggle to get this man the help he needs.