WEST CHEZZETCOOK, NS – It’s been a long and difficult few days for Elta Mullins and her family. They said their final goodbyes to their mother, Beverly Roma on Thursday morning.
“She was a very kind person, she’d give you the shirt off her back if you needed it. She loved her grandchildren, loved her family.”
“She came down and spent Christmas with us every year…it’s gonna be really tough this Christmas,” Mullins told Global News in her home on Thursday afternoon.
Beverly Roma is remembered as a healthy, active 78-year-old, who enjoyed shopping and bingo. She contracted legionnaires’ disease in late August and never recovered.
Roma was one of five people who lived at Alderney Manor in Dartmouth to contract legionnaires’, which is described as a severe form of pneumonia. It’s spread by water mist, most commonly through showers and air conditioners.
“I would think if you’re living in an apartment building, you’re paying rent I would think they would have an obligation to ensure that your water is safe,” Mullins said of Alderney Manor.
The apartment building houses low-income seniors. The Minister of Community Services says they considered moving tenants out of the complex when the outbreak was discovered, but decided against it.
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“It was determined that that didn’t need to happen because very quickly the source was identified,” said Joanne Bernard, Minister of Community Services.
Alderney Manor is scheduled to get $1.3 million dollars in renovations. Some of those renovations started, but were put on hold until the legionnaires’ outbreak is resolved.
Despite the situation at the manor, the minister says it’s safe for seniors.
“They are absolutely safe.” Bernard said. “There are guidelines, there are provincial standards, we abide by them above and beyond.”
The government has now purchased a machine that will treat the water at the complex. “Its a 50,000 investment in this building so this will never happen again,” Bernard tells Global News.
Mullins is glad the water will be treated in the future at Alderney Manor, but can’t stop thinking that her mother’s death could have been prevented. “If they have had the proper water system in, then perhaps this never would have happened.”
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