Wednesday Oct. 15, 2014 www.saobserver.net $1.25 GST INCLUDED
Death prompts inquiry Bastion Place: BCNU says care home’s staffing, facilities inadequate. By Tracy Hughes OBSERVER STAFF
While there has been no official link made between an altercation involving two elderly Bastion Place dementia residents and the death of one of the men four days later, the BC Nurses Union is pointing to the incident as an example of inadequate staffing and safety mechanisms in long-term care facilities. John Young, 93, died Tuesday, Oct. 7. Four days earlier, in the early morning hours of Friday, Oct. 3, Young was involved in what Interior Health officials are describing as an “unwitnessed altercation” between two dementia patients living at Bastion Place. It appears that Young had wandered into the room of another resident who had a history of aggressive behaviour. Tracy Quewezance, regional chair of the B.C. Nurses Union for the Thompson/ North Okanagan, said the man had previously assaulted a Bastion Place nurse this summer. Both Young and the other man were taken to Shuswap Lake General Hospital, where they were assessed and then both later returned to Bastion Place. The B.C. Coroners Service is investigating the situation and an autopsy is being conducted to determine the cause of death. Those results are expected in the next few days. “We were informed of this death shortly after it occurred and because the circumstances were unusual for a long-term care home, we have opened an investigation,” said Barb McLintock, with the BC Coroners Service Friday. Karen Bloemink, executive director of residential services for Interior Health, confirmed the Oct. 3 incident to the Observer, saying staff at Bastion Place, “responded quickly and appropriately to provide care to both men involved.” See Cause on page A2
EVAN BUHLER/OBSERVER
Nearing the end of the journey
Sockeye salmon swim in the Adams River towards their spawning grounds in Roderick Haig-Brown Provincial Park on Sunday, Oct. 12. For more images of the event, turn to page A15.
Facing the Ebola threat Epidemic: Bev Kauffeldt returns to Liberia to help train others. By Barb Brouwer OBSERVER STAFF
Bev Kauffeldt has experienced hell on earth and has chosen to return. Confident in her faith in God and her work, Kauffeldt flew back to Monrovia, Liberia on Sunday – straight into the maelstrom of an overwhelming Ebola outbreak. A worker with the Christian aid organization Samaritan’s Purse, Kauffeldt, her husband Kendell and their children have called Liberia home for the past 10 years. In late June, Kauffeldt first shared concerns about the disease that emerged in March in Guekadou, Guinea and how
This week The Silverbacks’ domination of Merritt Saturday takes the sting out of two losses. See A19. The spooks are getting set to converge on Haney Heritage Village. See more on A25.
Samaritan’s Purse was working with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) to care for those who were ill and help halt the progress of the devastating illness. But the disease began its unabated spread over the next few weeks. In the first two weeks of July, Kauffeldt was working with MSF in a private hospital in Foya, Liberia, some 10 to 15 kilometres from where the outbreak had occurred. Her role was to oversee water management – making sure the clinic had potable water, sanitation and hygiene. Among her many tasks was removing the bodies of those who died. All those jobs are done by people wear-
ing personal protective equipment (PPE), often with chlorine sprayers on their backs to sanitize areas that may have been contaminated by body fluids. “It’s very claustrophobic and extremely hot; you have to get used to being wet inside your suit and trust it’s sweat, not a breach where something else is getting in,” says Kauffeldt, noting the process of dressing is a lengthy one with double, triple and quadruple checks by each person and another team member, followed by a mirror check to make sure no part of the body is exposed. “You have to trust your team, the equipSee Family on page A4
Index Opinion ....................... A6 View Point .................. A7 Election 2014 ............. A8 Life & Times ............. A15 Sports................A19-A20 Arts & Events ... A23-A25 Vol. 107, No. 42, 48 pages