UPDATE: Seniors advocate presses for answers after woman's death
RCMP and Tri-County Ground Search and Rescue conducted a search Friday night and Saturday morning for a woman who went missing from a nursing home off Salisbury Road.
RCMP and Tri-County Ground Search and Rescue conducted a search Friday night and Saturday morning for a woman who went missing from a nursing home off Salisbury Road.
Seniors' advocate Cecile Cassista is calling for an independent investigation after an 83-year-old woman was reported missing from a special care home Friday night and was found Saturday afternoon, but died in the ambulance on the way to hospital.
"This tragedy needs to be investigated by the department of social development," said Cassista of Riverview, who is executive director of the New Brunswick Coalition for Seniors and Nursing Home Residents' Rights, and a Riverview town councillor.
In a letter to the Department of Social Development, Cassista says reforms are needed.
"A person has died as a result of reforms not being implemented to protect the most vulnerable people of society," she says in a letter to the Department of Social Development. "There should be proactive inspections, data gathering and tracking that would allow reforms to take place."
She said more measures are needed to protect vulnerable seniors from harm while they are in the care of homes run by private owners.
Codiac Regional RCMP said Saturday that an 83-year-old woman who went missing from a Moncton special care home Friday evening was found alive Saturday afternoon but died in the ambulance. The missing woman was identified by RCMP as Gloria Mitton, but the name was removed from its news release after she was found.
Sgt. Chris MacKenzie-Plante said the woman was found near the CN Rail Humpyard off Salisbury Road, shortly after 1 p.m., about one kilometre from where she went missing.
"When located, the woman was in medical distress," RCMP said in a news release Saturday afternoon. "First aid was administered on scene by RCMP members and she was transferred to the care of Ambulance New Brunswick. The woman died before being transported to hospital."
RCMP helicopter, dog team and the Tri-County Ground Search and Rescue organization joined in the search for the woman, who was reportedly last seen at the Golden Years nursing home Friday around 6:30 p.m.
The search area was off Salisbury Road in west Moncton between the Spencer Memorial Home and the Fair Haven Cemetery. Searchers were seen along Salisbury Road Saturday morning and along the Humpyard Road, which leads to the CN Rail Humpyard. RCMP and searchers set up a command post on Jabez Street, next to the nursing home where she was last seen. Just after 1 p.m., ambulances were called to the scene on the Humpyard Road.
The weather in Moncton Friday night was rainy with high winds. On Saturday morning, it was overcast with showers and temperatures around 8 Celsius, but had turned sunny and warm by noon.
"The death of a resident from the Golden Years Estate facility is very regrettable; our hearts go out to the family and to other residents and staff," Jan Seely, president of the New Brunswick Special Care Association, said in an e-mailed statement to the Times & Transcript Sunday. She confirmed the facility is a member of the association, which represents more than than 400 special care homes with 6,000 residents and 5,000 staff.
Seely said special care homes, unlike nursing homes, are not required to have electronic door security because residents assessed as Level 2 typically do not have significant cognitive challenges. She said the association had no knowledge of the woman's physical and mental status.
"We offer our support to the home and to the Department of Social Development in attempting to determine the facts of the situation and how to prevent such sad situations in future,” Seely said.
The Times & Transcript reached out to the home by telephone and email for comment but received no response Sunday.
