A Vancouver Island woman who spent years working at a Victoria hospital as a registered nurse is now a patient there, but has gone weeks without a working television in her room.
Diane Moffatt has been at the Royal Jubilee Hospital since Dec. 27, receiving treatment for a urinary tract infection. She also lives with Alzheimer’s disease.
According to her husband Denis Moffatt, Diane loves to watch TV game shows like Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune.
“Because of the Alzheimer’s, a very active mind is no longer there. She used to do cryptic crossword puzzles with ballpoint pen, was a very avid bridge player here in town and also online,” he told Global News.
“There’s very little activity available at Royal Jubilee Hospital … something like a TV is fairly important in terms of diversion.”
Moffatt said the the TV has been broken since the day Diane was admitted, and despite requests to have it fixed or swapped, the couple has been told there’s nothing anyone can do.
He decided to make some noise, “not only for Diane but for any number of patients here in the Care Centre, I think I’ll just go to bat.”
In an interview, Health Minister Adrian Dix said he’s “not happy” to hear of Diane’s broken TV.
“That’s an issue for our contractor and I’ve asked Island Health to look into it,” he said.
In an emailed statement, Island Health said TV services at Royal Jubilee Hospital are provided by a contractor, Health Hub.
“Island Health is aware of the faulty TV in this specific room and are working with the service provider to replace it as soon as possible,” it wrote.
Health Hub did not return requests for comment on Tuesday, but Island Health confirmed late in the day that the contractor plans to fix Diane’s TV on Wednesday.