72-year-old N.B. veteran says he’s not eligible for military long-term care

CLIFTON ROYAL, N.B. – New Brunswicker Bob Beyea says if there ever comes a time when he needs help, he wants to be put in a veteran nursing home alongside his military family.

But he says right now, he’s not eligible.

Beyea served in Cyprus in 1964 and spent seven years in the military making him a modern-day veteran, according to Veterans Affairs.

“To me, that’s an insult. I’m either a veteran or not,” he said.

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At 72, Beyea volunteers with cadets, the Royal Canadian Legion and is on a committee that looks after the extra needs of those at Ridgewood Veterans care home in Saint John.

But because of his modern-day status, he’s not eligible to go to Ridgewood himself.

“If something happens to me and I have to go into a nursing home, I don’t qualify to go to Ridgewood. If I had to go to a nursing home, I want to go where the military people are,” he said.

Horizon Health confirmed that Ridgewood only accepts Second World War and Korean War veterans.

Veterans Affairs said they do pay for long-term care for a modern-day veteran in a community nursing home, if the veteran was injured while on duty.

Beyea said he had a meeting with Ridgewood in mid-January, and at that time there were 12 beds available.

Horizon Health couldn’t confirm that, but if a veteran from World War Two or the Korean War needed a bed, one would be available right away.

Peter Stoffer, veterans affairs critic for the New Democratic Party, said he’s been working on trying to get benefits for modern-day veterans for years.

“A veteran is a veteran is a veteran,” said Stoffer

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“Those bullets that they shot at me, or the people that were with me, were just as deadly,” Beyea said.

Beyea has received a UN and Peacekeepers service medal and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal.

But he feels he, and others who fought in Cyprus, Bosnia, the Suez Canal and so on, are forgotten veterans.

“The majority of our politicians, on November 11th, they’ll stand up and say, ‘Lest we forget, lest we forget,” said Beyea. “The rest of the year it’s, ‘Let’s forget.'”