WINNIPEG — A Manitoba man with Alzheimer’s disease could be moved out of jail and to an emergency placement bed as early as Friday instead of having to wait almost three weeks for a spot.
Joe McLeod, 69, has been in the medical unit at the Winnipeg Remand Centre since he was charged with assault after lashing out at his wife in their home Sept. 2. His family has said he was confused and didn’t recognize her.
His case became public this week when Manitoba Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard took up his cause. Gerrard appeared on a Winnipeg radio show Thursday and said it was simply unacceptable for anyone with Alzheimer’s disease to be kept in jail.
“They should be treated in an appropriate place of care in one fashion or another and this hasn’t happened here,” he said. “There needs to be an investigation why Joe McLeod ended up in jail.”
Gerrard said the family had originally been told that McLeod would have a medical assessment next week and it could take until Oct. 25 to find a space for him if it was decided he needed long-term care.
But the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority said Thursday afternoon that McLeod’s condition would be assessed right away and he could be moved to an emergency placement bed as early as Friday.
“If he is an appropriate candidate for a personal care home bed ... an emergency placement bed has been arranged once his care need is assessed and confirmed,” the health authority said in a release.
McLeod was scheduled to make a court appearance Friday morning.
“Assuming those issues are resolved, he should be moved into an appropriate setting on Friday,” the health authority said, adding it would work with the Alzheimer Society of Manitoba, Winnipeg police and the provincial Justice Department to “establish better protocols for dealing with such situations.”
Rose McLeod said her husband has never been in trouble with the law in their 48-year marriage.
“I visited Joe and Rose three years ago in their home,” said Gerrard. “They had a perfectly cared for home and grounds. (They are) a wonderful couple.
“This is like my father, your father. We should be caring for somebody like this who’s got Alzheimer’s and recognizing the problem ... and not putting them in jail.”
Rose McLeod said her husband was confused and thought she was someone else when he confronted her.
She was cut by a shard of glass when a picture frame she was carrying broke during the encounter.
She and the couple’s daughter had wanted to place him in a personal care home, but said they were unable to get him a bed.
“If there is a shortage of care spaces or a problem here, then that is something that the NDP (government) should have been looking after ... sometime ago,” Gerrard said.
The family had been told McLeod was free to leave the remand centre if someone took responsibility for him.
“They told me that as long as he had some place to go that they would let him go, but I can’t take care of him anymore,” his wife said.
Real Cloutier, the health authority’s chief operating officer, said he was just made aware of the situation Wednesday.
“Any time you hear a story like this your heart goes out to the family struggling to deal with the situation,” he said.
Gerrard wants more concrete action.
“The system is broken if you can’t look after people when they need to be looked after.”