FAMILY OUTRAGED AFTER HOSPITAL SENDS 86 YEAR OLD BLIND WOMAN TO DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE SHELTER

family outraged after hospital sends 86-year-old blind woman to Downtown Eastside shelter "It happens all the time," said Alice Kendall, executive director of the DTES Women's Centre Author of the article: David Carrigg, Gwendolyn Deraspe, 86 on Wednesday who is blind and has mobility issues, was discharged from hospital Tuesday and sent by taxi to a women's shelter in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, despite the shelter being unable to care for her. She was later returned to Ridge Meadows Hospital. But upon arrival, the shelter’s director told the driver and his backseat passenger, Gwendolyn Deraspe, that they couldn’t accommodate her, and she was told to go to Vancouver General Hospital’s emergency department instead. En route to VGH, Fraser Health contacted the cab driver and had Deraspe returned to Ridge Meadows. “She’s been treated horribly,” her son-in-law, Jim Caya, said Wednesday about the hours-long ordeal. “This situation makes me ashamed to be a Canadian. To treat people like this is cruel.” Fraser Health has apologized to the family and said in a statement that they “should have done better” to connect the patient with housing support. “In this case, we failed to confirm ahead of discharge whether the shelter had an appropriate bed available to the patient,” the health authority said. “We are truly sorry for this mistake.” But the director of the Vancouver shelter where Deraspe was sent said hospitals often offload patients who require care to shelters. “It happens all the time,” said Alice Kendall, executive director of the DTES Women’s Centre, as she stood outside the 32-bed overflow shelter on East Hastings Street awaiting Deraspe’s arrival on Tuesday. Kendall said she told Fraser Health twice beforehand that the shelter couldn’t accommodate Deraspe. Yet at 2:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Deraspe was escorted out of Ridge Meadows Hospital in Maple Ridge and into a waiting Alouette Taxi cab. When the cab arrived in Vancouver an hour later, Kendall dashed across the street to tell the driver and Deraspe that the shelter couldn’t help her. Sunrise Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. “We advised that we could not accommodate her as our emergency shelters are not equipped to care for someone with her complex needs and because the Downtown Eastside is not a safe or appropriate place for her,” she explained to Postmedia News later. “How is an emergency drop-in shelter in the Downtown Eastside a safe or appropriate placement for an 86-year-old blind woman with no family or connections here?” The shelter was able to make arrangements for Deraspe to go to VGH. However, as the cab made its way to the VGH ER — and after Fraser Health was contacted by Postmedia — it was diverted back to Ridge Meadows Hospital. Kendall said she hoped the health authority could find a suitable discharge location for Deraspe — “somewhere where she is safe and can get the medical supports she requires.” Alice Kendall, executive director of the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, says it’s not uncommon for hospitals to discharge patients to shelters. The centre was unable to provide the care and support Gwendolyn Deraspe required. PHOTO BY NICK PROCAYLO /10106514A On Wednesday, Caya said his mother-in-law had been given a bed in a common area of Ridge Meadows Hospital for the night. She was later moved to a room on a ward, while he awaits a meeting to discuss next steps. Caya is married to Deraspe’s daughter, Maria, and they’re not able to house her, physically or financially. The senior, who was born in the U.K. in 1938, moved to Canada in 1994 to be closer to her daughter and grandchildren. Article content Shortly after arriving, she met and married Jim Deraspe, a Canadian citizen, and the pair lived together, first in the Tri-Cities and then with his son in Cranbrook, until Jim died suddenly in July. In recent years, Jim had been caring for Deraspe, who is legally blind due to cataracts and has heart disease and mobility issues. Caya said Deraspe never applied for Canadian citizenship, and as a result, isn’t covered by MSP. A few days after her husband died, his son returned her to the Lower Mainland, where she ended up in Ridge Meadows Hospital requiring medical care. She was there for four months until she was discharged against her family’s objections on Tuesday. Caya said his wife is “destroyed” by her mother’s plight, while he has been working to determine her immigration status. He has been told that she can apply for status on humanitarian grounds, but the wait could be up to two years. He has also reached out to legal aid to get help seeking health and housing support, but was denied assistance. He’s not sure what to do next. “If B.C. Housing could help her get a little flat, or if she could get treatment for her cataracts, she could get her life back,” he said. In a statement, Fraser Health said Deraspe was brought back to Ridge Meadows Hospital where staff are working to connect her to “appropriate partners” who can assist in finding housing. The health authority admitted that in Deraspe’s case staff failed to confirm ahead of time whether the shelter had an appropriate bed available. “When a patient is discharged into a shelter, we make every effort to help them find a bed within our region in a facility able to meet their needs. In this case, we were unable to connect the patient with a shelter in our region with the capacity and ability to meet her needs,” said the statement. https://vancouversun.com/news/bc-family-outraged-hospital-86-year-old-blind-woman-downtown-eastside-shelter