Thompson long-term care residents to move to Flin Flon amid wildfire threat

Louise Last expected her dad to come home Monday.

He and fellow long-term care residents left Flin Flon in late May, evacuating to Winnipeg and other areas to escape wildfires.

A July 10 letter from the Northern Health Region confirmed residents would return to Northern Lights Manor and Flin Flon Personal Care Home beginning July 14.

So Last was shocked when, within days, she read another letter from the Northern Health Region. It stated occupants of Northern Spirit Manor in Thompson would be relocated to Flin Flon’s Northern Lights Manor as a precautionary measure. Thompson has been bracing for another round of evacuations.

Residents of Northern Lights’ 36 personal care home beds won’t yet return.

“It’s an outrage,” Last said.

She hasn’t seen Ludwig Krzak, her father, in a month and a half. She and her two sisters previously visited Krzak up to four times weekly, she said Sunday.

The 92-year-old lives with dementia and congestive heart failure. He’s on oxygen and requires a wheelchair, his granddaughter Annette Banach said.

“At the manor, when you’re there every day or every second day, you’re part of his care team,” Banach said. “You’re his eyes and ears.”

Now, Krzak’s physical health is unknown — there have been few updates, Banach and Last said. Family members have visited the senior twice at Deer Lodge Centre in Winnipeg, they added. Krzak’s three daughters live in and near Flin Flon, more than 760 kilometres away.

“With everybody fleeing to Winnipeg — or a good majority of people — we couldn’t get a hotel room to save our lives to go see him,” Last said. “We understand that.”

And the family understands the decision to move Thompson long-term care residents, she continued. A July 11 Northern Health Region letter cited air quality and smoke levels.

“(But) they managed to find my grandfather a place in Winnipeg so quickly,” Banach said.

The family has emailed politicians about the matter, calling for a return of Northern Lights Manor residents, Banach said. She’s worried about Krzak — people with dementia may decline in health when displaced, she noted.

Requests for comment from Manitoba’s NDP government went unanswered Sunday. The Northern Health Region didn’t respond to questions by print deadline.

In a July 11 letter to residents and caregivers obtained by the Free Press, Breanne Ballard, Northern Lights Manor’s manager of health services, apologized for the delay in Flin Flon long-term care residents returning home.

“Our circumstances are dependent upon a variety of factors, including the ongoing wildfires across the region,” Ballard wrote.

Updates on returns will come “as the situation changes,” her memo continues.

Krzak’s family plans to write to the Manitoba Ombudsman; they’re seeking other affected families to make a group submission.

“Fire season isn’t new. The dreaded evacuation isn’t new,” Banach said. “What emergency plans does the Northern Health Region actually have for this?”

Meanwhile, wildfire evacuees are being funnelled into congregate shelters while hotels are filled.

“The priority is to get evacuees into hotel rooms as soon as possible,” a provincial spokesperson wrote in a statement.

About 750 people occupied a Leila Avenue shelter Saturday night, while another 500 stayed at the University of Winnipeg’s recreation complex.

Work at the RBC Convention Centre was to begin in the latter half of Sunday, the spokesperson said.

Manitoba declared a second state of emergency on Thursday. More than one million hectares have burned, making this wildfire season the worst on record in the last 30 years.

Snow Lake and Garden Hill First Nation are under mandatory evacuation orders.

gabrielle.piche@winnipegfreepress.com