A photograph of a crying elderly Canadian couple in wheelchairs, separated into two different care homes after 62 years of marriage because no beds were available together, has received international attention.
Wolfram Gottschalk, 83, of Surrey, British Columbia was put in an assisted living home in January after he suffered dementia health complications making it impossible for wife Anita, 81, to care for him at home. Four months later, Ms. Gottschalk entered a different facility despite family efforts to keep them together.
The facilities are half an hour apart, with family driving Ms. Gottschalk to see Mr. Gottschalk several times a week.
Granddaughter Ashley Bartyik took “the saddest photo I have ever taken” when her grandparents were brought together recently. She notes that he reaches and cries out for her.
Mr. Gottschalk was diagnosed with lymphoma on August 23, 2016. Now, the family is desperate for the couple to be together to live out their remaining days.
“I see desperation,” Ms. Bartyik said. “I see people married for 62 years pulled apart by a system. I see the love they have for each other.”
She took to social media to draw attention to the family’s plight and said the family had been working to find a care home to accommodate both grandparents. But the couple’s immediate health concerns led them to be put in separate facilities.
“It’s a little bit of a broken system right now,” Ms. Bartyik said.
She said the first call from the local health authority came on August 25, 2016, after the photo received international attention. “We were told he is a top priority,” Ms. Bartyik said.
She said Ms. Gottschalk is more aware of what is happening than her husband. She said her grandfather’s dementia is growing and the family is afraid Mr. Gottschalk soon won’t remember his wife.
“With the news of cancer, our fight to have them in the same facility is even more urgent,” Ms. Bartyik said.
The couple met in Germany in 1954 and married four months later. Mr. Gottschalk was a bricklayer and a shortage of work after World War II led the couple to immigrate to Canada.
Ms. Bartyik said the couple speaks in their native German in sad situations and Mr. Gottschalk calls Ms. Gottschalk “my little mouse” in German, Ms. Bartyik said. “That’s what he calls out when he sees her,” Ms. Bartyik said.
Fraser Health was unavailable for comment.
