MANAGERS at a West Vancouver seniors' home faced tough questions in the media this week after a 93-year-old man fell to his death in a stairwell and lay undiscovered until the following morning.
A friend of the victim said the facility is not to blame, however.
Ted Powis used a walker and had trouble with his sight and hearing, said family friend Donald McBain, but still had full command of his mental faculties, "a tremendous sense of humour," and lived quite independently at Hollyburn House.
"This was between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. in the afternoon, Oct. 24," McBain said. "Apparently he opened a door he hadn't been in before and realized it was a stairwell. By that time the door closed behind him and it locked. I don't know if he tried to go down the stairs or if he just fell and knocked his head and died."
Powis failed to appear for dinner that night but staff probably assumed he had left without checking out, said McBain.
"No one came into that stairwell until the maintenance man came in the morning. He was there all night. There are no security cameras in there, but the big problem is that door locked," he said.
McBain's said his account came from Powis' son. Powis' fall is the second high-profile death in a care home on the North Shore reported this week. Despite this, McBain said he has no complaint with the standard of care at Hollyburn House.
"Ted was very happy there," he said. "He was in his own suite. He made his own breakfast and lunch and stuff like that."
Regional coroner Owen Court said his investigation is in its early stages.
