Refresher training among WRHA recommendations after senior’s disappearance

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The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority says it is committed to following through on recommendations it made after reviewing the case of a senior who disappeared from his home and is presumed dead.

The case was deemed a critical incident even though Earl Moberg, who was 81 at the time, wasn’t in a hospital or care facility when he wandered away from his Gilmore Avenue home on Dec. 12, 2023.

Winnipeg police, volunteer groups, friends and family have conducted numerous searches for Moberg over the last year.

“We’ve never had a critical incident review where someone has left their home while they were in our care and not been located,” Wendy Singleton, director of client relations and engagement with the WRHA, said in a news conference via Zoom on Wednesday afternoon.

Singleton added health authority officials appreciate the “tremendous” pain and grief of the family and the goal of the recommendations is to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.

Moberg’s family tried unsuccessfully to persuade the health-care system to give him support services after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in late 2019. Moberg was placed on waiting lists for respite and home care.

When the family finally did receive some respite care, there were problems with the transportation service. In the end, Moberg received four hours of home care before he disappeared.

Recommendations from the report, provided to the Free Press by the family, include a mandatory refresher training for home-care case co-ordinators and the creation of a new series of steps for case co-ordinators to follow as diseases progress in severity.

The recommendations also include reviews of day program services and respite protocols to look for ways to improve, and a review of the process meant to connect families to the Alzheimer’s Society First Link program, which provides information and supports to people with dementia and their families.

The findings also say the WRHA needs to better recognize the need for caregivers to receive timely and flexible support from health services and acknowledge the benefits of services, such as a vulnerable persons registry and Project Lifesaver, which uses electronic locating technology to track people who wander.

It was also recommended the WRHA collaborate with others to promote community resources for people with dementia.

“I’ve been waiting for this for a while, and I was really glad to finally have it get to this point,” Moberg’s daughter, Britt, said before the news conference.

“Unfortunately, whatever we do now isn’t going to be able to bring my dad back. But I hope that it could help to save a life or help to prevent someone from being seriously injured.”

She said it is important for the WRHA to develop safety plans and have workers conduct in-home assessments — and improve access to services for people with dementia as soon as they need them.

“There’s some things they’re identifying, saying that they don’t have the resources right now, so I think it really identifies the need for further funding in some areas, because with the aging population we know there’s going to be more of a demand for these services,” said Moberg.

There may be a need, after the WRHA looks at the recommendations, to increase staffing, said Luba Bereza, the authority’s director of home and palliative care.

She added that some of the recommendations are “repackaging” what the authority already has to make it more accessible to workers and clients and their families, as well as recommendations to bring in outside resources from the community.

“It can be about increased resources, but it also can be about being very deliberate about the work … the processes that we have and the partnerships that we have, and leveraging them,” said Bereza.

Singleton said the health authority is dedicated to making the changes.

“This is a family at this point that does not have closure and in the recommendations that have been made … we have committed to providing them with the completion of those recommendations, so at least they will have something that we can offer here.”

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca