A Dorval man is looking for help from Health Ministry officials, to have his ailing and elderly mother moved to a facility closer to where he lives.
84-year-old Rita Ciarma suffered a debilitating stroke, and was sent to the Montreal Neurological Institute to recover.
Her son Peter Ciarma says she's visited each day by a member of their close knit family.
"My daughter my wife they go there 7 days a week, they finish work they go there because hospital staff they're always short so they go and do as much as they can."
He's afraid they won't be able to care for her where she's going.
"My biggest fear is that she's going to be transferred down to the east end and it's going to be impossible for us to get down there," he says. "Especailly with the winter coming and the traffic the way it is."
Those fears were confirmed when he was informed by an official at the hospital that Rita would be moved to a facility on Ste. Catherine St. E., past Viau.
"Yesterday my daughter she was in tears; she's stuck downtown, she had just finished work, they've closed half of the streets she was there for like an hour hour and hour and a half, she's tired hungry, she feels guilty that she's not at her grandmother's bedside."
Now that Mrs. Ciarma is being moved further away — he's afraid she won't get the quality of care she'll receive with her family present.
"How is it possible that between Dorval and Decarie there's not one transition bed available!" he says.
Now Ciarma is considering paying out of pocket to bring his mother to his home in Dorval — but will have to bring in a hospital bed and pay out of pocket for specialty equipment, and find nurses to come in multiple times a day.
François Ouimet, the Liberal MNA whose Marquette riding takes in Dorval, says the family's complaint is a common one, particularly given Dorval's aging population.
"I believe she would be the fourth case that we have had over the past year or so," he says. "Unfortunately, it does happen. We always want to make sure that the family will be as close as possible to the person who has to be placed in an institution. But it is not always possible because there are waiting lists. We do intervene, but we are reminded by the medical authorities that there are waiting lists...and as soon as a bed opens up, that person will be moved in that place."
Ouimet adds that while authorities do have some flexibility in assigning patients to homes, he says that he as an MNA, he doesn't have any direct influence in the decision-making process.