Widow of man left outside Collier nursing home speaks out

Author: Jennifer Jones
Published:

COLLIER COUNTY, Fla.- It’s been three months since a 90-year-old man was left outside a nursing home in the scorching heat and died. Staff members at The Aristocrat forgot about Robert Bernard and left him outside in his wheelchair for three hours. Now, his wife is speaking out about his death for the first time.

“It’s hard not having him here.” Frances Bernard tried to fight back the tears as she talked about the death of her husband Robert.

She remembers that day in August when she got the news. “I was on my way to go see him that afternoon, when I got the call that he was in the hospital and for me to go down and see him on the hospital. And whenever I saw him I was heart broken, they were pounding on his chest trying to revive him.”

Robert died 9 days later. “The doctor said how he every pulled through they didn’t know how he ever did but, he lasted for a little while.”

Robert suffered heat stroke, dehydration and severe burns to his body when he was left outside in the 90 degree heat.

But it wasn’t the only battle he fought, Robert was an Army veteran who served our country proud. “He had a purple heart cause he got injured when he was in Germany. He got shrapnel in his wound, in his legs, and had a granaide go off near him that affected his hearing.”

Even though it’s tough not having him around, Frances will continue to think about the 66 years they had together. “It will be the first Christmas we’ll be not together but I know he’s in a better place.”

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.