N.B. woman says father found with ‘black eye,’ bruises after hospital falls

Lisa Weir says her 86-year-old father needs to be in nursing home due to dementia, but waiting in hospital for a bed is putting his health further at risk.

An 86-year-old man with dementia went to a New Brunswick hospital for pneumonia but ended up with bruises and other injuries, his family says.

His family believes the injuries came from hospital falls and could have been prevented with more resources to support patients and staff as they wait for a nursing home placement.

“You’re going in, you’re seeing your father with a black eye, and all covered in bruises,” said Lisa Weir, whose father Winston Cossaboom is at Saint John Regional Hospital while waiting for a long-term care bed placement.

For more than three decades, Cossaboom served his community working with the Saint John Police Force. Now it’s his turn for care, and his family believes the health-care system is coming up short in fulfilling his needs.

“He’s gone into the hospital with pneumonia and now has more injuries from being in the hospital,” Weir said.

Cossaboom joined the wait-list in July for an in-home care assessment, which requires a social worker.

After getting pneumonia in October, and with his dementia worsening, Cossaboom was admitted to the Saint John Regional Hospital, where he remains today.

A care home is now his only option, but six months after registering, the family still hasn’t seen the social worker to make that happen.