100-year-old WW II vet to get bed at Camp Hill after she was initially denied
CBC
After weeks of frustration and uncertainty, a 100-year-old veteran of the Second World War has been assured she has a spot at Halifax's veterans hospital.
Joan Robertson is a Canadian citizen who was born in England and served with Britain's Auxiliary Territorial Service. She's been living in Canada since 1957.
Her family says they got a call on Nov. 2 stating Robertson wasn't eligible for one of the available beds at Camp Hill Veterans Memorial Hospital because she'd served with the British Army, not the Canadian Army.
They were told her only option was to join a wait-list.
"So at 100, what does one do?" Robertson said in an interview with CBC News on Thursday.
"But … it's not just for me, it's for people coming behind me who have no one to stand up for them."
Her family had been trying since Oct. 12 to confirm her spot at Camp Hill. Robertson has been staying at a hospital in the Annapolis Valley after becoming ill several weeks ago.
Her daughter, Jennifer Kennedy, said her mom was medically cleared to leave the hospital, but had nowhere to go since she requires more intensive care than she can receive at home.
Kennedy called the process of getting into Camp Hill "convoluted and almost discriminatory."
"If she had been a World War II service vet, Canadian, who had served in combat, she would be in there tomorrow, so, basically, what they've said is there's a tiered system," she said last week.
But the family learned from Veterans Affairs on Monday morning that more beds have been opened up for Allied veterans.
The family is overjoyed that their many emails and phone calls worked, but they also hope other veterans won't be left waiting and wondering if they'll be accepted.
In 2018, veteran Gordon Smith was also initially told he didn't have a spot at Camp Hill because he served with the British Navy, and wasn't considered a Canadian war veteran. Two years earlier, a decorated war hero who was born in Norway was also denied a spot at first.
After Petter Blendheim's story made headlines in 2016, Veterans Affairs said it would expand access to Camp Hill.
