91-year-old Winnipeg woman furious with home-care system

A 91-year-old Winnipeg woman's experience withhome carehas left her frustrated and angry.

Edith Grunfeldentered hospital with heart problems in late September and ended up staying for five weeks.After she wasmedically discharged, she had to wait seven or eight days for home care to be arranged, she said.

"I was furious that I was occupying a bed I no longer needed," Grunfeld said. "It is frustrating, because I wanted to come home."

Grunfeld was told she couldn't go home until home-care service was arranged and that they were waiting to find someone, she said.

Home-care providers were assigned to visit Grunfeld three times a day when she got home, but there were problems.

"They would not allow me to take a shower," she said.

Grunfeld has a hydraulic chair in her bathtub and needed help getting into it, but the worker wasn't allowed to assist her because of policy, she said.

"I was furious. I sent her away. I said, 'I don't need this,'" she said.

Worker not allowed to give water

Another worker came around suppertime. Grunfeld hoped for help with food preparation, she said, butall the worker could do was set the table, so she also sent her away.

When it came to the evening help, Grunfeld was surprised to find there were more restrictions.

"She was not allowed to remind me of taking the medication. She was not allowed to give me a glass of water to take my medication," she said. "All she was allowed was to put the nightgown on me," which Grunfeld said she could do herself, or at least help.

Officials from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority did an assessment in early Octoberand Grunfeld was later told she was not eligible for home care because of her mobility, she said.

"So excuse me for being alive," Grunfeld said.

Grunfeld's son, Richard, was also disappointed.

"I thought, you know, we could try to work out something," he said. "But they were so rigid.

"They told her they can only do one and two things and that's all. There was no negotiation, no discussion, conversation about okay, of course I can't give you medication, I can't give you a bath because you need a special training or something. That's fine. But let's talk about what I can do for you, what's in the realm. Let's have a conversation. There's no conversation," he said.

'What kind of game do we have to play here?'

Richard Grunfeld didn't agree with his mother's decision to send the two workers away, but she is independent and she is struggling, he said.

Grunfeld said his mom is competent and he believes that works against her.

"If she wasn't so competent, then she wouldn't seem able, and then they would probably have home care," he said.

"I should have told my mother, okay, be totally helpless. Don't do anything," he said. "So what kind of game do we have to play here?"

Edith Grunfeld has hired private workers to help her. As a Holocaust survivor, she also gets some support from Jewish Child and Family Service.

She decided to go public with her concerns to help other elderly people who may face similar situations. She has written a letter to the province calling for an overhaul of the home-care system.

Grunfeld said she was contacted by the WRHA last week and told they would look into her situation, but no promises were made.

"I wonder if the people who write the policy and would deliver it, would they stop for a minute and think, well, how is it like to be 80 and 90 and mobile, but not quite, needing a few hours of quality care, but not getting it because you're mobile," she said.

"And the government wants seniors to stay in their homes as long as possible, so what kind of a help is this?"

The WRHAsaid it wouldhelp her "work through her concerns and come up with the most appropriate care solution to address her needs."