Husband opposes FHA plan to move sick wife
Heinz Koehler adjusts a blanket for his wife, Sabine, who resides at the Eagle Ridge Manor. Sabine, who has ALS, is to be transferred to Surrey and Heinz fears the move.
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Heinz and Sabine Koehler have been married for 49 years and Heinz has taken his vow to love her in health and, now, sickness, to heart.
Every day, he spends up to 15 hours at his ailing wife’s bedside at Eagle Ridge Manor. She suffers from ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and for the last four years has been living at the Port Moody care facility.
Sabine depends on a ventilator. She can’t move or talk but Heinz says she communicates through her eyes, and they’re telling him she doesn’t want to move.
“Three weeks ago, I almost thought I lost her,” Heinz said. That’s when the Fraser Health Authority told him that the last of the ventilator-dependent patients at Eagle Ridge would have to be moved to Surrey. “I gathered up our two boys to come and see her... but I got her back.”
Fraser Health first said it would be moving the patients to Care Life Fleetwood, a 22-bed facility for patients on respirators, last year but several of the patients’ families objected and the health authority eventually said they could stay.
Fraser spokesperson Roy Thorpe said things have changed, however, and the remaining patients must be transferred because of budget pressures.
“To be responsible stewards of public money and to provide the best possible care... we need to finish the transfers this fall,” he said. The ventilator-patient capacity at Eagle Ridge will be closed and the required specialized staff will no longer be available there.
Thorpe said Fraser Health recognizes the move creates concerns for patients’ families, particularly for the additional travel required to visit loved ones in Surrey, but the authority is doing what it can to resolve those issues, including implementing a HandyDart service to the care facility.
“These moves are taken with great consideration to the patient’s care and safety, and in consultation with their physician,” Thorpe added, noting if a move were to risk the patient’s health, it could be delayed.
spayne@tricitynews.com
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