Staff have keys and will enter if a knock isn’t answered. It is the last time he was seen at the front door before his body was found and removed from his room eight days later.ĭid anyone notice that Michael stopped going in or out the front door, which his mom says he did half a dozen times daily for coffee and to smoke?ĭid Michael get his dinner - a meal provided to all residents - from the Parkdale dining room?Īt the time of Michael’s death, tenants were picking up meals from the dining room to take back to their unit because of COVID, according to Neven.ĭid anyone do a routine apartment check at Michael’s unit? These are checks by staff to determine the physical condition of each apartment, but also to maintain a connection with the resident and informally check on their well-being. on July 7 and Michael was coming in with a coffee, his daily ritual. In response to McCarthy’s many questions, Indwell sent her a still photo of Michael captured by security video at the front of Parkdale Landing. McCarthy said she would be surprised if her son died by suicide, since he seems to have been going about his normal routine up until he vanished from sight on July 7. Preliminary toxicology results do not indicate any street drugs in Michael’s system, the coroner has told McCarthy. The level of decomposition makes it impossible to know if his heart gave out, which is one possibility suggested by the coroner. But the coroner told her no identifying marks on his corpse were still visible. She thought his scarred hand would be enough to identify his body. McCarthy said she was told her son’s body was badly decomposed. No foul play was suspected.Įxactly what the cause of death was is still unknown, even after an autopsy. They had Michael’s body removed and tried to reach McCarthy by phone that night, without success. Two police officers were called to Parkdale on July 15. When there was no answer, Indwell contacted police. McCarthy’s understanding, based on her conversation with police, was that a nurse knocked on his door to administer a monthly injection on July 15. The morning of July 16, McCarthy got a phone call from Hamilton police to tell her Michael had been found dead in his apartment. Michael did not have a phone and calls to his mom were sporadic and infrequent. Michael was a quiet guy who “kept to himself.” He loved sports, especially baseball. He did not take street drugs and didn’t drink, his mom says. When he wasn’t in hospital, Michael was often homeless. Joe’s Hospital for years,” she says, referring to the psychiatric unit where he sometimes stayed for two or three months at a time. Michael would stop taking his medication and experience psychosis. “He had a lot of issues,” says McCarthy, who lives in another province. He didn’t finish Grade 10 and was diagnosed with schizophrenia at 15. As a child he was hit by a car, then suffered serious burns to his left hand in an accident. Michael, who was 45, had a host of challenges from the time he was born in Nova Scotia. “We’re taking folks no one else wants to house,” said Neven, who stresses Parkdale Landing is an apartment - “not a jail.” While assistance is offered, residents live independently. Parkdale is home to the organization’s highest-need residents, who have issues with mental health and addiction. Indwell’s services are in demand more than ever due to a crisis stemming from rampant opioid use and lack of affordable housing. “We as a community are grieving with his family that he’s passed away,” said Neven. In an interview with The Spectator, Indwell CEO Jeff Neven declined to speak specifically about Michael’s death, saying that is “a conversation that breaches tenant confidentiality.” Except Indwell says the staff member thought Michael was sleeping. “I want accountability and truth, as that was my son that laid for more than a week decomposing on his bed,” says Arlene McCarthy.Īn internal review by Indwell, the non-profit organization which operates Parkdale, confirms much of McCarthy’s version of events. It is not unfathomable that this could happen at Parkdale because it happened there once before. And when he died in his tiny, supported-living apartment at Parkdale Landing, his mother fears his body remained for seven days before anyone found him.Įven then, the staff member who saw him in his bed closed the door and left him for another day. Michael Miller fell through the cracks in life.
0 kommentar(er)
