Missing Forensic patient

Coquitlam psych patient escapes hospital for second time in less than a year.

 Adam Yvan Gorges

Coquitlam RCMP:   File # 2020-314

UPDATE:    Found ! safe and sound...

Another go at becoming a National Historic site

Round 2 for Riverview on national heritage designation bid
The city of Coquitlam's Riverview Lands Advisory Committee will discuss the application on July 9.
 The usually meet from  3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. in the Council Committee Room, Coquitlam City Hall.
The public is welcome to attend, but are not allowed to contribute, unless asked. 

               BUT there is power in numbers; I encourage anybody interested to attend.
Cheers
 

Conflicting ideas

Ongoing saga of Coquitlam council having issues with the Provice.

Coquitlam, province at odds on Riverview Hospital
‘Break-even’ plan for Riverview work raises council’s ire

         No mention of the ongoing discussions with the local first nations; have not offered enough compensation yet, I guess.

        Meanwhile Valleyview300 has been levelled in preparation for  a new building. I have not seen any concept drawings for this building yet.  Certainly scarred up the grounds considerably with all the probing, new pipes, tree marking, flagging, spray paint marking for this venture.

UPDATE:   The first artcle above generated some letters to the editor:
     Appalled at province’s plan for Riverview site in Coquitlam

Protect Riverview video

Last January there was small gathering near Coquitlam City hall, rather quickly organized  by Jay Peachy and the weather was not friendly; I blogged about it before in this posting  (scroll down in article)

There was a loval community TV crew there, and they finally have released their video
entitled,   Rivervier Concerns (sic)

Local resident, Beverly Miller has her say at  the 3 minutes and six second mark

Roger Loubert, President of ArtsConnect speaks his mind at 5 minutes, 48 seconds

Nice comments by ex-MLA John Cashore  starts at  13 minutes and 14 seconds

And also comments from Burke Mountain Naturalist, Elaine Golds starting at  16 minutes and 42 seconds

 Enjoy

Art meets Riverview

Our Riverview lands, painted
Port Coquitlam's Art Focus Artists Association will have three cube towers in a new ArtConnect exhibit in Vancouver that focuses on Riverview Hospital.

Riverview, Our Iconic Landscape
Pendulum Gallery, HSBC Building
885 West Georgia Street   Vancouver, B.C.
Exhibition from the 15th of February until the 5th of March, 2016


Some parking information

  A few links to ArtsConnect references to Riverview:
         About Riverview
             Riverview Slideshow

And a few preview Photos of some of the art from the ArtFocus group

I must say that more than a few of the artists captured the site feeling rather well, well done :)

Riverview comments needed

Last chance for commenting on this smoke and mirrors show, that has been named Renewing Riverview.
first you must sign away your life and join Placespeak    Then you need to find  A Vision For Renewing Riverview you have until January 29, 2016 February 12, 2016 to have your voice heard.

You tube video of  the bureacrats announcing the building in the distant future of some health care facilities on the site; which of course will still not come anywhere near to replacing what was lost when Riverview was closed.

UPDATE:  Deadline has been extended :   Riverview vision is linked to health announcement: BC Housing
The deadline to comment on the fifth and final report for the future of Riverview Hospital is February 12.

IMPORTANT MEETING:      Please come to this meeting to show your support
 Riverview Lands Advisory Committee meeting. ( hopefully they will update their page soon )

 Thursday14 January 2016, from 3-5pm, in the
Coquitlam Council meeting room, at Coquitlam City Hall.

     You are not allowed to say anything unless asked by the chair; but just having
bodies there shows the powers that be that there is strong interest in the site.

What will happen to riverviews trees?  ( page 3 ) Transcribed here for your perusal.
( The paper finally placed the article online )

The Future of Riverview
What will happen to Riverview's trees?
Locals worried about future of natural assets
Diane Strandberg, Tri-City News

A group of concerned Tri-City residents is worried the latest vision for the Riverview Hospital site could see dozens of spectacular 100 year-old trees bulldozed to make way for new market housing commercial properties and health care facilities.
And they say a decision to knock down Valleyview, a 50-year-old health care facility, to make way for mental health treatment buildings before master plan for the 244-acre property has been developed is a bad sign.
“This whole process lacks transparency,” said Don Gillespie, of the Riverview Horticultural Centre Society (RHCS).
Gillespie and others with the 23-year-old organization as well as the Burke Mountain Naturalists (BMN) are worried the Renewing Riverview vision released in December with the announcement of $175-million in new mental health facilities lacks commitment for the preservation of open space and trees. They point to a BC Housing document from 2013 that promised to maintain as much open space as “exists now” with the current document that only commits to maintain as much of the site’s existing open space “as possible”.
Elaine Golds, a BMN spokes-person who is also with the horticultural centre group, said the change in wording ignores public sentiment captured in online surveys and open houses that people want to see all the open space protected.
And she’s worried a map that breaks down tree preservation to a “focus area” and “areas of consideration” ignores the fact that important trees are located throughout the site, not just in a couple of identified locations.
Every time a new building went up, important trees were planted,” Gold said, noting that while the vision document promises identification, protection and maintenance of unique and important trees on the site, it’s vague on how and where this will be carried out.
“It’s a postage stamp is what it is,” added Gillespie.
. According to the document, Riverview’s core collection of trees will be preserved, with landscape architects hired to oversee land use planning and studies on tree viability.
 The vision also notes that any future improvements on the site will have to be paid for with market housing and the break even mandate is a core principal in the development of the Riverview lands.
But RHCS Says the vision doesn’t go far enough in preserving the 1,800 mature trees on the property, which have therapeutic as well as heritage value. They want to see the trees protected and the site named for John Davidson, the founder of the Vancouver Natural History Society, who planted many of them.
The society plans to send letters of concern to BC Housing and the provincial housing ministry, and the public is urged to comment on the vision before the Jan.29 deadline.
You can go to renewingriverview.ca to share your feedback
dstrandberg@tricitynews.com

photo by: Diane Strandberg / The Tri-City News 

Norma and Don Gillespie, Laura Dupont Teri Madasky, Mick Short and Elaine Golds of the Riverview horticultural Centre Society are concerned about the future of heritage frees on the Riverview Hospital grounds because of what they consider to be the government's reduced commitment to maintaining open space on the 244-acre former mental hospital site. Recently, they visited the site to view the trees, including this Japanese Cryptomeria japonica 

 --30--

EDITORIAL: Riverview a gem that will be fought for
As is common in environmental matters in the Tri-Cities, Elaine Golds says it best.

LETTER: Riverview lands are for all the people of B.C., not developers
The Editor, Re. “Mental health facility, commercial district are in works for Riverview” (The Tri-City News, Dec. 18).

GREEN SCENE: The future (or the destruction) of Riverview?
The arborteum at Coquitlam's Riverview Hospital must be a priority, writes Golds.

\









Wide-angle view of Essondale's West Lawn with clear-cut grounds
Yes, that the area to the right would be todays Lougheed Highway; note the excellant soil, and the toe of a slide behind the fellow in the ditch to the left. Still noticeable today, if you know what to look for.

Willingdon to move to Riverview

 Apparently today December 17,2015 at Valleyview 300 an announcement was made.
The Renewing Riverview folks have put up a PDF outlining this Vision

Online open house from Thursday, December 17, 2015 – Friday, January 29, 2016 on  PlaceSpeak
Sadly the participants are required to sign up to this privately-owned forum; and the process to do so is convoluted and confusing :(  which has been pointed out to the people in charge before, but nothing has changed.

 Send the facilitators of the "visioning process" an email to share your thoughts.   questions@renewingriverview.com

So it appears that The Maples   the  Provincial Assessment Centre,PAC   and the Burnaby Centre for Mental Health and Addiction, BCMHA  all at this time based in Burnaby, will be moved to Riverview.

A quick glance through the PDF finds numerous mistakes, half-truths, and outright wrong facts, strewn throughout the document.  I would expect much better and indeed the public should expect more accurate and truthful reporting in such a document. 

Sadly the bureaucrats and their paternalistic attitudes want to sell-off large portions of the property, using their break-even formulae; Which means really that the public will lose control off a large portion of this property, and we the public will have nothing to show for it, since any profits will be swallowed up paying off the various leeches, that make a living preying on the Public purse.

 Various news sources:

Mental health facility, commercial district are in works for Riverview
Six-week feedback period for Coquitlam lands vision; Kwikwetlem looks to receive benefits

 Riverview Lands revisioning to include new mental health buildings
The former psychiatry facility has been sitting mostly empty since it was shut down in 2012

 Three programs to move to new facilities on Riverview grounds

 New Riverview plans don't meet B.C.'s mental health needs, say UBC researchers
The province says the days of locking up people with mental health problems are over.
[Oh, really ! hopefully some bureaucrat can explain what is going on at Colony Farm, and Cypress lodge, which is on the site. Some patients have to be kept secure, for the staff and the public safety, and above all for the Patients safety ]

December 2012

The Riverview Heritage Conservation Plan, has been completed, read the report and decide if it adequately describes the heritage values.
Man who broke out of Colony Farm back in care

But we cannot have a full house, so another patient goes missing:
Patient missing from PoCo psychiatric hospital
The Coquitlam RCMP websites information about this patient, Kurt Derksen, age 58. Note that he went missing in Richmond, on a visit with his family, and that he had a full beard, last time he was seen.
Missing Port Coquitlam psychiatric hospital patient found in Ontario.
    [ So Kurt Derksen is now back in custody.]

Patricia Donna Reed, rest in peace

Jury recommends better response measures after woman dies at Riverview

Coroners make recommendations after mentally-ill woman's death

Daniel Reed, Patricia Donna Reed's husband.  Picture: Carmine Marinelli, 24Hours

           Family calls for better monitoring of mental patients

                  Missing person search lacked leader: inquest

                        Riverview security wasn't informed of missing patient for 8 hours, inquest hears.
                                             [Sounds all to familiar too me!]

                                Inquest urges use of swipe cards, GPS
                                           Mental patient ‘died alone in a ditch’, jury told
                           Slip-ups and delays in locating patient outlined;
                                Lack of zone-by-zone grid search meant no one looked in ditch where body was found

[A little late! The inquest was conveniently called after the hospital was closed.

 Timeline: Missing February 9,2011, found five days later, inquest posted (PDF) on August 23,2012, to run from December 3-7, 2012,  this stinks of political interference, since the hospital was officially closed in July, 2012. Coroners Verdict, (PDF)

  I wonder if the present societies who are using the site, are going to read and enable the changes recommended in this report? The ultimate responsibility lies with the CEO, and no censure will occur, as usual.  In theory Leslie Arnold was the CEO, but I find that Leslie Arnold and Michael Marchbank are actually both the Co-chairs. Heads should roll, this type of  incident has occurred before and the lessons from it were not learned. Can you say "Peter Principle"?]

UPDATE:       Shane Yorke left a message  19 October 2015

Very sad. I was the officer that found Patricia Reed's body in Feb a few years ago. She was the elderly lady that went missing and past away on the RVH Grounds. The hospital staff only cared about covering their ass and they notified Security that she was missing, but when I asked if they wanted us to conduct a search, they replied, "No", just keep a lookout for her. Well keeping a lookout for a lady on 240 acres of land, and over 68 buildings, while dealing with alarm responses, aggressive patients along with our other duties was impossible. Finally a search was initiated after a few days, but staff said not to bring in extra staff to conduct a full search.Just search when we had time between calls. What people didn't read in the paper was that the RVH patients had their own patient support / security that transported and looked for patients. Other than driving around on the paved roadways, they did not do any searching.
This was a very sad story, but honestly, when you have a transit system running through a mental facility, and patients have outdoor privileges, they're going to leave the site.

Great Blog BTW, and yes I testified at her inquest. 

--30--

Sadly the story that Shane wrote is all to familar to me. From what I have been told in the past when the hospital had its own dedicted patient and grounds security; a search would be made of the grounds by vehicle and on foot, they would start at one end and sweep throught the property, and frequently it would also include some of the patients; this meant that  a thorough search was made, by people who were familiar with the property. Sadly this protocol was thrown away when the security was privatized. 

Thanks Shane for telling us what you witnessed, and I hope that this event is not haunting you in any way.

More links about Patricia Reeds disappearance: ( sadly some of the links above have been removed )
Simple security measures may have been enough to save Patricia Reeds life

Demand for answers into Riverview patients death

Coroner to hold inquest into Riverview patients death

She died alone in a ditch: Sis
 It took authorities five days to find a mental patient who went missing last year on the grounds at Riverview Hospital, by which time she was dead.