The Tories don’t see any urgency on the part of government in refining the nursing home system so that elderly couples no longer end up being physically separated from each other.

It’s not a new issue as Health Critic Paul Dinn has raised it in the past, but he doesn’t see any significant progress. He says other provinces manage to keep elderly couples together, so why can’t Newfoundland and Labrador?

He’s calling on government to bring in legislation specific to long-term care or care of the elderly.

If you have a person at level 3 or 4 and pairing them with a partner who is not at those levels, perhaps they could help provide some care, says the MHA. However, it’s now a situation where they sometimes wind up in a different community.