Vera Wilson absolutely hated the cold.
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So her son and daughter-in-law were horrified to learn the quiet 91-year-old froze to death steps from a locked service door at a luxury Brantford retirement home in 2022.
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Brian and Valerie Wilson say they have no idea why Vera wandered from her second-storey suite, downstairs, past the reception area and manager’s office, through a service area and out a service door into a snowstorm.
“She hated the cold, she hated snow, she didn’t like winter,” says her son Brian.
A year after his mother’s body was found by police, curled up under a bush and dusted with snow, the Wilsons were finally allowed to watch a security video they say showed Vera trying to get back through the service door that locked behind her and then falling .
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“It was horrible. Absolutely horrible,” says Brian.
“It was snowy, blowing and cold. She started to crawl but I don’t think she had the strength.”
A coroner’s report eventually put together a timeline showing that Vera exited the building at 10:30 pm At 2 am the two staff on duty found she was missing and searched the building. Another manager, notified at 3 am, drove around the building and subdivision looking for Vera before arriving and reviewing the video surveillance, which showed Vera was outside the facility.
Police were called at 4 am They found Vera at 4:20 am and were joined by emergency services at 4:26 am
The corporate office of Seasons declined to say much due to an ongoing lawsuit, and to “respect the privacy of our employees and Vera Wilson’s family.”
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A company statement to The Expositor said: “Seasons Retirement Communities is committed to providing a safe environment for its residents and staff and has various technologies and safety measures in place.”
Two years after Vera’s death, the Wilsons have plenty of unanswered questions.
They have no idea why Vera – who had been diagnosed with some dementia symptoms but still lived comfortably in her own one-bedroom suite at Seasons – went wandering that night as they say no one had mentioned such behavior before.
They don’t know why the facility didn’t know she was missing for almost four hours.
Or why the home didn’t call Brian, who was also her power of attorney, to say that she was missing, or when her body was found at 4 am
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It was the police who notified Brian at 8:30 in the morning as he was shoveling away the snow from the previous night’s storm.
The Wilsons say they don’t know why every other door they’ve seen at the large Seasons facility seems to be alarmed, with warning signs, except for the service door Vera went through that night.
They also say they don’t know why the Seasons corporation, a Canadian company that owns 22 such high-end retirement homes, couldn’t bring itself to somehow acknowledge Vera’s death with a little sympathy.
The Wilsons did meet with the facility manager, who had been on duty the night of Vera’s death, and they say was visibly rocked by the incident.
But the Wilsons say they know two things for certain and they want to ensure others know these things as well: there’s simple technology that could have prevented Vera’s death and people looking for a good retirement home must look more than attractive furnishings.
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Like many retired home residents, Vera carried a fob that allowed her to make an emergency call, but the Wilsons say they were later told that fob didn’t work outside the building.
“It also didn’t triangulate her position outside or react to falls, so if she was knocked unconscious it wouldn’t trigger an alarm,” said Brian.
“Other homes have GPS tracking in the fobs so people can be located.”
The other message from the Wilsons is those looking for a safe facility should consider more than the attractive rooms, good meals and list of activities.
“Do they have a strong missing persons policy?” asks Valerie. “That should be one of your first questions.”
The Wilsons – and the coroner who investigated Vera’s death – want to see all retirement home doors locked and alarmed so that, even when residents come and go, as they are allowed, a departure will always be monitored.
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Other coroner recommendations were that video surveillance be reviewed immediately if someone goes missing, especially in winter; police should be called as soon as there’s suspicion someone may have left the building; and video surveillance should be used at all doors.
A recommendation was also made to reassess those who might have dementia symptoms to see if their security needs had changed.
According to the coroner, the home had classified Vera as an “elopement risk” who was known to wander the halls at times but the Wilsons say that concern was never shared with them.
When asked, Seasons did not address whether it has, or plans to, implement any of the coroner’s recommendations.
The coroner’s recommendations can’t be enforced, despite the fact that Vera isn’t the first Canadian this has happened to.
So the Wilsons are trying to add some of their own pressure: they’ve launched a civil suit against Seasons for $4.1 million.
“We want some change,” says Brian. “If you say the doors are alarmed, alarm all the doors.
“We’re not the kind of people who go around suing people but we’re hoping Seasons looks at the report and says, these are things we could improve on,” said Brian.
“It doesn’t cost a lot but it would make the facility a whole lot safer.”
@EXPSGamble
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