WEDNESDAY February
18 2015
BRIGHT LIGHTS 12
VIMFF opening night TASTE 25
Cindy’s Cafe SPORT 29
Pack finish first in PJHL L o c a l N e w s . L o c a l M at t e r s
INTERACT WITH THE NEWS at N S N E W S .C O M
Dementia patient’s death ‘accidental’ Improvements made to care home security following coroner’s inquest
JANE SEYD jseyd@nsnews.com
In the months before an elderly North Vancouver woman died of hypothermia
in Lynn Canyon Park, the Alzheimer’s patient wandered from her care facility twice and her wrist monitor was not regularly checked, despite concerns raised by her family.
The family of Joan Warren, 76, knew she was at risk for wandering — a condition common among Alzheimer’s patients — and had relayed those concerns to staff at the Lynn Valley Sunrise care home when Warren moved to the facility four months before her death. Despite that,Warren’s
care plan did not address those issues. Between September and October, the elderly resident was found outside the building twice and nobody checked to see if she was wearing a wrist monitor to track her movements. Even if she had been, the pagers that were supposed to be triggered by the
wristbands if residents left the building weren’t working.They had been “malfunctioning for some time with no action taken to address the issue,” according to a coroner’s report into Warren’s death. On Dec. 6, 2013, the last day Warren was seen alive, a staff member saw her heading to the front doors
of the care home, putting on her jacket. But the staff member, who had not been properly trained, didn’t recognize that behaviour as concerning and didn’t intervene. Those are some of the disturbing findings from coroner Lisa Graham’s
See Hiker page 5
Driver in Grand Blvd hit-and-run sentenced JANE SEYD jseyd@nsnews.com
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On Top Of It All
Experience award-winning food and wine in a place like no other. The Observatory, above all. Executive Chef: Dennis Packham Skyride entrance complimentary with advance dinner reservations.
In a split-second, everything changed for two NorthVancouver families on a dark December night. The family of Leanne Pickard, a 22-year-old university student who suffered a traumatic brain injury when she was struck in a crosswalk, lives with the knowledge that their daughter may never fully recover. For driver Madeline Beckett, there is now a criminal record, a civil lawsuit, and the knowledge that she can never take back the damage she caused. Beckett, 25, was handed a nine-month conditional sentence order, including six months of house arrest, on Feb. 11 after pleading guilty in North Vancouver provincial court to failing to stop at the scene of an accident with a person. Beckett was also banned from driving for two years. See Retired page 3