Driver charged after senior left in bus for more than 7 hours
81-year-old was picked up at 3 p.m. and not found until 11 p.m.
The daughter of an 81-year-old man who was left alone inside a public transit vehicle for about 7½ hours says she has many questions about what led to the incident.
Kristen Giles says her father, Donald McKeen, visited her at her home in Oakfield, N.S., on June 11.
He was brought there, as he is every Wednesday, by the East Hants Community Rider, a transit service operated by the non-profit East Hants Community Learning Association.
After their visit, the driver came to pick up McKeen just before 3 p.m. to take him back to his residence at the Magnolia Continuing Care Community, a long-term care home in Enfield, about eight kilometres away.
But he never made it there. Giles got a phone call from the Magnolia staff at 10:30 p.m.
"Don's not here," Giles said the staff member told her. "He was to have gone with a family member for a visit. Do you know when he's coming back?"
She told them he had visited her but had boarded the transit vehicle hours earlier.
Father found trapped in vehicle
Giles waited a few minutes, then hopped in the car with her husband to look for McKeen. On the way, she said her husband asked, "'Could he still be in the van?' I said, 'No, there's no way.'"
They decided to stop at the Community Rider parking lot just to make sure.
When they got there, her husband shone his phone light through the window of the vehicle and saw McKeen's empty wheelchair.
Using a rock, they smashed the window open and found McKeen lying on the floor between the seats. He does not have the use of his legs and has limited strength in his arms, said Giles.
She said her father had been able to undo his seatbelt but had fallen to the ground and was unable to open the door or extricate himself.
"He was pinned. There was no possible way that he could get out. None.… It was 26 degrees that day and he was locked in that van for 7½ hours," Giles said.
Health has deteriorated
"When I got him, I said, 'Dad, you're safe. You're safe. We're here.' And he says, 'He left me here. He just left me.' And Dad says he seen him walk away."
RCMP, the fire department and paramedics soon arrived and took McKeen to the hospital. Giles said he was dehydrated and had pressure sores from lying on the floor of the vehicle.
McKeen has since been released from hospital and is back at the Magnolia. Giles said his health has deteriorated, as one of his legs has swollen and he can no longer feed himself, wheel himself around in his wheelchair or sit up on his own.
"He's lost the little bit of quality of life that he had," Giles said. "It's heart-wrenching."
Bus driver charged
RCMP announced Monday a man is facing charges in connection with the incident. A 64-year-old man from Stanley was charged on June 19 with criminal negligence causing bodily harm and failure to provide the necessities of life.
Giles confirmed the name of the man who was charged is the name of the bus driver.
In a statement posted on its website, the East Hants Community Learning Association said it is reviewing the circumstances of the incident internally and "out of respect for privacy and due to the active investigation," it would not provide further details.
Many questions unanswered
"It just seems like the ball has been dropped on so many levels," Giles said.
She wants to know why the driver failed to drop her father off, especially when he was the only passenger on the bus. She also wonders why staff at the Magnolia did not notice his absence for so long, since he always arrives back after her visits at the same time.
"When he wasn't there for supper, they never called. When he wasn't there for his evening pills, they never called," she said.
Her father also requires assistance to get into bed, and staff didn't call when he wasn't there at bedtime.
"Why did it take so long for somebody to miss him?"
CBC News has contacted East Hants Community Rider, the East Hants Community Learning Association, the Magnolia Continuing Care Community and the company that owns the Magnolia, the Stevens Group of Companies.
This story will be updated if and when CBC News receives a response.
In a news release, the Advocates for the Care of the Elderly (ACE), a volunteer group that advocates for improvements in the long-term care sector, said it was appalled by the incident.
"It boggles the mind that the long-term care staff could miss noticing the absence of this resident during meal times and medication rounds," said ACE chair Gary MacLeod.
The organization called for the province to offer McKeen a place in a different long-term care residence and to launch an investigation, and for police to conduct a thorough investigation.
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