The mother of a North Bay Regional Health Centre mental health patient says her daughter has been able to escape from the local hospital more than 10 times in a 13 month time frame.
“Every time they would find my daughter, the officers would tell me they told the staff and doctors how ‘unhappy' they were to have to keep searching for her over and over,” said Susan MacDonald-Dunn to BayToday.ca.
“This has been going on for years, most of the time when she would escape the hospital and/or the police would call me for help in finding her - one time they were searching all the way from Powassan to Sturgeon Falls as she had met people in the hospital from both places and was hiding out with them.”
MacDonald-Dunn has wanted the public to know about her situation after an escaped patient broke out of the hospital last Friday and stole a Hydro truck. The patient was arrested by O.P.P. in the Sudbury area about an hour after the escape.
The hospital says the bizarre escape and vehicle theft is under review but officials insist escapes don’t happen on a regular basis.
“We are thankful to our partners at the North Bay Police Service for their assistance in this most recent situation,” Tanya Nixon, VP of Mental Health told BayToday.ca on Tuesday.
“While these occurrences happen rarely at our Health Centre, the subsequent team response and risk mitigation strategies are key in such situations.”
From first hand experience, MacDonald-Dunn believes that comment to be very inaccurate.
She says in one incident, a physician allowed her daughter to go outside the facility to have a cigarette. That time, McDonald-Dunn says her daughter tried to call a cab and eventually escaped again. She was charged with taxi fraud for not paying the fare.
MacDonald Dunn’s daughter Val, is 24 years old now and suffers from psychosis.
She is getting treated for it, and is living on her own in an apartment off Cassells street.
She is also commuting between some friends homes on Algonquin avenue.
Val says while she admits she was wrong leaving the facility, now she’s upset that they will not take here back in.
“There’s nothing that I don’t like at the hospital,” Val told BayToday.ca while admitting she isn’t a big fan of hospital food.
Like her mother, Val believes the help she needs is back at the hospital.
“Talk to me one-on-one, make sure I am doing okay, and if I am not doing okay then just keep a calm voice and talk to me lightly, and be as understanding as they can,” Val said about what will help her get better.
“They need to remind me why it is so important if it is a long lasting stay, and that’s what I need, a long term stay,” Val added, noting that once she gets better she would like to become a beautician and work with make-up.
But because Val has escaped the facility so many times, her mother believes they don’t want her back.
“Now she is not getting the help she needs and is out on the street because the hospital does not want to look bad if she escapes again,” said Susan.
“I know the staff is doing what they can and there are some amazing nurses at the hospital. I know there are people there who care about her but their hands are tied.
“The doctor tells us they can’t lock her up forever, but I say they can keep her locked up until she gets better, and if she can’t get better, then yes, you do keep her safe.”
MacDonald-Dunn has also tried to get her daughter transferred to Ontario Shores Long-Term facility in Whitby, but there is a long waiting list to get in there.
“To be transferred from one facility to another, you have to be in the facility long enough to wait out that waiting period to be transferred down there, and the problem was, Val kept escaping. She wouldn’t wait out the waiting period to get through the waiting list to go down to Whitby.”
Susan MacDonald Dunn, who lives at home with her 80-year-old ailing father and her special needs son, is frustrated with the entire system.
“So now what do I do? I have tried everything,” she admits.
“One time she is going to go missing for good, because she’s not getting the help she needs at the hospital.”
