Phyllis Churchill poses for a photo in her chair at her home in St. John’s. (Garrett Barry/CBC)
Phyllis Churchill’s world is 290 centimeters wide and 315 centimeters long – about nine and a half by 10 and a half feet.
When you add the bed, the chair and the cupboard, the three main features of her life, it shrinks even further.
There is a window in her room, but she can’t reach out to look through it. She spends her days sitting in her chair tearing through word search puzzles and paint-by-number games on her iPad.
Churchill is trapped, effectively a prisoner in her own bedroom, due to a combination of increasing mobility issues and a housing unit that cannot be made to fit her needs.
Two sets of stairs separate her room from the kitchen and living room in her public housing estate on Watson Street in St John’s. Her daughter says she hasn’t taken them off in almost a year.
Except for medical examinations when she was moved by ambulance, Churchill did not leave her room.
“The only word I can really think of is isolation. She’s isolated from everything,” said her daughter Samantha Churchill.
Peek into the world of a St. John’s woman trapped in an inaccessible home
Phyllis Churchill has been waiting for months to find an affordable apartment that could meet her needs.
“I couldn’t do it. I don’t know how she does it and still manages to be happy and laugh and smile.”
Last summer, Samantha and her mother’s housekeeper managed to get Phyllis out to sit in the sun for an afternoon. She hasn’t had that experience since.
“They worry to the point of pain about me,” Phyllis Churchill said of her family and friends. “They don’t like it.”
On the waiting list
Samantha and Phyllis applied to the Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation for affordable housing last year and have been waiting on a waiting list ever since.
About 600 of the housing corporation’s approximately 5,500 units are partially or fully affordable.
They are also looking to the private market for a unit to meet their needs using online tools such as Facebook, but say it is not growing faster.
“I’m trying to find a place to live and I’m hitting brick walls. I can find nothing, not a thing,” said Phyllis Churchill.
John Abbott, the provincial minister in charge of the Housing Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador, said the authority is working with the family to find something suitable – but it’s a challenging time.
“Within our own housing stock, it’s a challenge because we just don’t have the units,” he said. “We’re trying to build new ones, but that’s not going to happen today.”
John Abbott is the minister responsible for the Housing Corporation of Newfoundland and Labrador. (Ted Dillon/CBC)
The corporation is looking to the private rental market for help, but Abbott said housing starts fell at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, so there are fewer options today.
“When I talk to my colleagues around the country, [it’s] very, very similar,” he said.
Daily load
Three or four years ago, according to Samantha, her mother was diagnosed with cerebellar ataxia, a condition that causes balance and mobility difficulties.
She then broke her shoulder and had to have a steel plate fitted.
As a result, her mobility is significantly reduced. She has a wheelchair upstairs to help her get around, but it can’t handle the stairs.
Phyllis says she doesn’t feel lonely in her room thanks to visits from her housekeeper, Janice May, and her daughter.
She said her mental health was “pretty good, considering.”
Samantha Churchill is the daughter of Phyllis Churchill. She spends a lot of time in her mother’s apartment, helping her with the daily tasks that she cannot do on her own. (Garrett Barry/CBC)
But Samantha says that despite her mother’s best efforts to appear brave, she notices some low days.
“I think he’s struggling. He’s trying not to let it go, but we can kind of tell,” she said.
Samantha also worries about safety and possible escape routes if there is a fire in her unit or the other units nearby.
For now, they’re looking for alternatives — and dreaming of the life they could have in a more suitable unit.
Read more from CBC Newfoundland and Labrador
Add Comment