New Brunswick couple stranded in Florida after injury to return home this week | Globalnews.ca

A Moncton couple who was previously stranded in Orlando, Fla., has received confirmation that they will be flown back to New Brunswick this week, after the husband was injured and unable to be transferred back home due to a lack of hospital beds.

Patricia Bates and Joseph Guthro left New Brunswick on March 14 on a bus trip to Florida.

On March 28, Guthro got up to use the washroom on board the bus, and a car pulled out in front of the tour bus, forcing the driver to slam on the brakes.

Guthro fell, compressing a disc in his body. After tests at the hospital, the Orlando care centre admitted him.

“I just want to get home and get into a bed so I can get some rehabilitation,” said Guthro last week. “I have pain going down my left leg.”

Bates told Global News on Wednesday that after working with their travel insurance, the two will fly back this weekend, where they will stay home and try to get home care.

The two are still trying to find hospital care in the province.

Guthro hopes to find a bed in the Stan Cassidy Centre for Rehabilitation (SCCR) in Fredericton or The Moncton Hospital, so he could undergo rehab.

Guthro served seven years in the army, according to Bates. His wife said mobility had increased significantly since the fall, but they will continue to look for rehab.

The couple spent days on the phone looking for help from their member of Parliament, Global Affairs Canada and the province of New Brunswick.

She worries about how many Canadians are left stranded across the border, hoping to get healthcare at home.

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