SHA nearly finished formal review following senior’s death in care home

A woman wants answers after her grandfather wandered out of a Saskatoon care home, ultimately leading to his death.

William Cone was placed in the Preston Special Care Home by his family at the beginning of October. It was meant to be a temporary placement while his family waited for a more permanent care home spot to open up.

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Less than two days after entering the facility, Cone – who had dementia and Alzheimer’s – wandered out.

While outside the care home, Cone broke his hip. No one from the facility knew he was missing.

“My grandmother actually called from the hospital and let them know that he was in the hospital. They had no idea that he was gone,” Bailie Smith, Cone’s granddaughter, said.

Shortly after, Cone died from complications.

According to Smith, her family has since found out the care home wasn’t “adequately equipped” to take care of her grandfather, who was “known to wander.”

That included not having certain security measures – like cameras, alarms, or monitors for patients, alerting staff that someone got out – to prevent Cone from leaving.

Having people wander away isn’t unusual for the facility, either, Smith said. She said she knows other people who’ve put their family members with Alzheimer’s into Preston Special Care Home and they’ve “also gotten out.”

The difference in these instances, though, is that those people were placed into proper care homes afterwards.

Cone isn’t the first senior to die after wandering out of a Saskatoon care home this year, either.

Back in February, 96-year-old William Hastie was found dead outside his facility, Northern Light Care Home on Lochrie Crescent.

In the coroner’s report, it was determined that Hastie had died of a cardiac event from extreme hypothermia.

“This shouldn’t have happened twice this year. This shouldn’t have happened at all,” Smith said.

Smith is calling on the provincial government to implement better security, which would monitor patients’ whereabouts, and better screening methods, to ensure people get placed “in the correct level of care” and are looked after properly.

She also wants answers on why this happened.

“We want a full investigation and we want changes. We don’t want anyone else to have to go through what we’re going through right now,” Smith said.

Formal review underway

In an emailed statement, the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) wrote that, “a formal review of this situation is nearly complete and the report is being finalized.”

That review included hearing statements from Smith’s family members.

Once the SHA’s report is complete, it’ll be shared with the Ministry of Health.

The authority will also “meet with the family for a post-review analysis disclosure.” That’ll include going over the facts of what happened, any actions already taken or planned to be taken and considered steps for improving care delivery going forward.