By Matthew McCully

Rolf Bentzen could really use some Christmas cheer.

He and his family have been through quite the ordeal in recent weeks, and the celebrated WWII veteran, who served as an Armoured Vehicle Group member during the D-Day landings, now 103 years old, has found himself in the hospital for the holidays.

Being on the 14th floor of Ste. Anne’s Hospital overlooking the grandeur of Montreal and its flickering lights might conjure up some sense of awe, but Bentzen cannot see. He also has trouble hearing. And most importantly, according to his daughter Carolyn Bentzen, he can’t seem to understand how a momentary loss of balance and a rash pulled him from his apartment at St. Francis Manor in Lennoxville.

The horror story started on Nov. 29, and Bentzen said her father’s health has been deteriorating ever since.

“From Nov. 29 to now, he’s nothing but skin and bones.”

Bentzen is still unclear about her father’s initial arrival at the hospital. Rolf was living independently in an apartment at St. Francis Manor. Her first indication something was wrong came when she received a call from the admissions desk of the Hotel Dieu on Dec. 1 saying Rolf was in the emergency room and needed to be admitted, citing a serious rash. Bentzen later heard that her father had lost his balance and fallen and was found by a neighbour.

According to Bentzen, the odds were stacked against her father the moment he was admitted.

It was a perfect storm of being a senior/visually impaired, being English, and being at the mercy of a healthcare system in the midst of strike action.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Bentzen said. Even during strike action, “You still look after those essential needs,” she said, “There’s a rotating essential shift. Where were they? I don’t know.”

During his time on the fourth floor of the Hotel Dieu, Bentzen said Rolf was underserved and often left unattended.

He was supposed to start physio immediately to stay active, Bentzen said, and a therapist came by and had Rolf up moving around well with a walker. But after the first day the therapist never returned.

Due to limited resources during the strike action, food was brought to him in sealed plastic containers (yogurt, apple sauce) with plastic utensils that he was unable to open.

Rolf, fully of sound mind, was distressed by people coming and going from his room without explanation. When he questioned his medication, the response was,” This is for you.”

“I know it’s for me, but what is it,” Rolf replied, aware of what his regular pill regiment normally includes. Bentzen believes a language barrier prevented staff from interacting with her father.

On a particularly unpleasant day, Bentzen arrived at around 4: 30 p.m. to find her father hunched over in a chair in his room. He had been put in the chair at 11:30 a.m. for lunch and told someone would be back later. His diaper also had not been changed, and he had not received any pain medication since 9 a.m. that morning.

Things got worse when Bentzen discovered with little notice that her father was being moved up to the fifth floor. She arrived to what she referred to as a cattle line of seniors in chairs wearing bibs facing a nurse’s desk protected by floor to ceiling plexiglass.

Her father was among the group of, from what Bentzen could gather, French seniors suffering from dementia. There was a vomit tray next to him, as well as a plate of cold food out of reach.

“They had him drugged so bad,” Bentzen said, “I thought, he’s never going to survive that.”

When Rolf was first admitted, Bentzen said she and her sisters were trying to coordinate 24-hour care so that he could return to his apartment for a few days, but his condition deteriorated to a point where that was no longer an option.

Fortunately, Rolf was already on a list at Ste. Anne’s Hospital in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, which primarily serves veterans of the Canadian Forces and is specialized in long-term and geriatric care.

Communication gaps delayed the move, but Rolf was finally transferred to Ste. Anne’s on Wednesday afternoon.

But it wasn’t all sunshine and roses, Bentzen said.

“I know it’s a good place, but it was so chaotic when we arrived,” she said, explaining that staff was busy because it was the dinner hour.

Her father would also have to quarantine for 10 days, and in the commotion of the last-minute transfer, his clothing was forgotten in Lennoxville.

But Bentzen and her sister Janet arrived prepared. They immediately posted signage in the room to highlight that Rolf was visually and hearing impaired. And she added she was pleased when one nurse walked into the room, immediately saying who she was and what she was coming to do. Bentzen insisted that protocol be passed on to the rest of staff to ensure Rolf doesn’t suddenly feel strangers tugging and poking at him.

Ste. Anne’s has rooms available for family, so Bentzen’s sister Janet was able to stay over last night to be close to her dad.

“Once he gets his lazy boy, CD player, he knows all the buttons, he will be more comfortable,” Bentzen said.

Bentzen said Legion Veteran’s officer Lyne Langlais has been keeping a close eye on Rolf and will help get his personal belongings to Ste. Anne’s in the coming weeks.

And Bentzen said Rolf’s eldest daughter, Deborah, will be coming to stay with him over Christmas, which should keep spirits high as the WWII veteran gets used to his new environment.

Bentzen hopes her dad will start eating and regain enough strength to start walking again.

“He always said he plans to live to be 105.”