Florence died of starvation in B.C. government care
Sharon Bursey holds an earlier photo of her family, including sister Florence Girard, bottom centre, at an inquest into Florence's death by starvation in a homeshare funded by Community Living BC. Photo by CBC
By Louise Kinross
Florence Girard.
Every night for a week I've typed her name into Google to read the latest about a coroner's inquest into her death by starvation in 2018 in a homeshare funded by the British Columbia government.
Florence, or Flo, was a 54-year-old woman with Down syndrome. She weighed about 50 pounds at autopsy, having shed more than half her weight.
Let's review the facts, released in a steady news stream, each night more grim than the last.
An RCMP corporal told the court he was haunted by what responding officers found: An emaciated body with a skeletal appearance and missing, broken or decayed teeth. She was the size of a small child.
Flo lived in the home of a caregiver paid almost $3,000 a month by the province to care for her.
She was kept in a bedroom with a baby gate to prevent her from falling down the stairs, her caregiver said. Her mattress lay on the floor, and a video of The Titanic, which she enjoyed, played on a loop 24-7.
Her caregiver had a contract with Kinsight Community Society, an agency contracted by the Crown corporation Community Living BC (CLBC) to oversee homeshare arrangements like Flo's.
Kinsight staff had not set eyes on Flo in nine months before her death. Nine months!
Flo had not seen a doctor in four years, her caregiver said, because she feared medical care and had meltdowns. She needed a wheelchair but didn't have one. She had not seen a dentist in five years. Before she died, the caregiver said Flo was living on three to four bottles of Ensure each day.
Two months before her death, a CLBC worker was in her home to prepare to welcome another client into the same house, and failed to open her bedroom door to make sure she was okay.
Kinsight staff were in the home several times in the months before her death, the court heard, but no one opened her door. On one occasion the caregiver said she was sick, but the worker did not check on her. "At the time, there were no alarm bells ringing," a Kinsight coordinator said.
At the inquest, a CLBC service area manager told the court the Crown corporation's role was to "monitor the agency that is monitoring the contractors." This meant simply that once a year they review a random sample of Kinsight's patient files.
In regards to Flo not seeing a doctor for years, the CLBC manager said: "There's no ability to check when they see a doctor. We don't have access to MSP records."
Wouldn't "monitoring" by both Kinsight and CLBC include records of the services clients receive, including basic medical care?
This story in The Tyee notes that CLBC paid its CEO over $300,000 in the 23-24 fiscal year, and CLBC paid Kinsight about $11.5 million the same year.
Flo's sister Sharon Bursey said the caregiver hadn't allowed her to speak to Flo in the months before her death, and had restricted family contact for years.
The inquest heard that homeshare caregivers are underfunded and lack support. Tamara Taggart, president of Down Syndrome BC, told a reporter: "They have no paid vacation or benefits, no support, and no cost of living raises."
Following Florence's death, her caregiver was convicted of failing to provide the necessities of life. She received a 15-month sentence but avoided serving any time in jail. Kinsight was also criminally charged, but the B.C. Prosecution Service later stayed those charges.
Taggart noted there are over 4,000 adults with developmental disabilities living in homeshares in B.C. What on earth is happening behind those closed doors?
In one of countless chilling anecdotes shared at the inquest, Flo's caregiver said she didn't call 911 when Flo died. She phoned a non-emergency police number. Flo's sister said that Kinsight and the Crown corporation referred to her sister as an "incident," not a person.
"Florence's legacy has to be systemic change," Taggart said.
The jury is now deliberating.
You may have noticed that I didn't include names of any of the agency and government players who testified in this care debacle. That's because Flo's name is the only one that mattered.
Here are a series of stories you can read and watch about the inquest.
'Nobody deserves that torture': Sister of disabled woman who starved to death testifies at inquest CBC
'No alarm bells ringing': Society worker testifies in B.C. woman's starvation death Global News
Florence Girard inquest hears from Kinsight CEO Global News
CLBC staff testify on underfunding for caregivers for vulnerable disabled people CTV News
Testimony wraps in coroner's inquest into Florence Girard's death Global News
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