The woman who was supposed to care for Florence Girard before she died of starvation in 2018 says Girard would go into a “breakdown” every time she had to go to the doctor or receive medical care.
Astrid Dahl told the coroner’s inquest into the 54-year-old’s death that she reported Girard’s behavior to Kinsight Community Society officials, but no one provided any solution.
Girard, who had Down syndrome, weighed less than 50 pounds when he died while in Dahl’s care, and the caregiver was convicted in 2022 of failing to provide the necessities of life.
The coroner’s inquest is looking into the death of Girard, who died while being cared for under a Kinsight-supervised program for people with developmental disabilities.
Dahl told the inquest that he would approach things differently now, given Girard’s death, but at the time he felt the crises were causing the woman so much stress that it was better to keep her at home rather than take her to medical care.
A coroner’s inquest began on Monday into the death of a woman with Down syndrome in government-funded care. We will hear from his sister and an advocate about what they hope will emerge from the investigation.
Girard’s sister told the inquest on Monday that she would have looked after her sister if she had received any financial support.
Earlier in the day, the president of a Down syndrome advocacy group in British Columbia told the inquiry that more financial support is needed for parents and caregivers to avoid tragedies like Girard’s death.
Tamara Taggart says parents and caregivers are under severe financial pressure to provide services such as speech therapy, which can be life-altering for people with Down syndrome.
Taggart, whose organization was launched in 2021 in direct response to Girard’s death, says his family had to pay $12,000 a year for therapy to help their son learn to eat solid foods, and the province provides no support in your case or in other similar situations. .
She says her family is in a privileged position to be able to afford and live in Vancouver to access that care, but other families are excluded from similar care for their loved ones due to high cost and access.
