Mentally unstable woman at large
A 37-year-old woman has gone missing after walking out of the Secure Medical Unit at Whitehorse General Hospital (WGH) at 2:37 p.m. Sunday.
A 37-year-old woman has gone missing after walking out of the Secure Medical Unit at Whitehorse General Hospital (WGH) at 2:37 p.m. Sunday.
The woman is four feet, eight inches tall, weighs 95 pounds and is Caucasian with short brown hair. Her name was not released.
She was wearing blue hospital pyjamas consisting of a button-up shirt and elastic waist trousers, hospital booties, a white cable knit sweater and a double-layered white or cream coloured toque.
She may have been carrying a blue Bible.
The woman was caught on camera running down Hospital Road. She crossed the visitor's parking lot and went out of camera range.
A code yellow (Missing Patient) was called at 2:45 p.m. The RCMP were notified at 3:30 p.m. and co-ordinated a search and rescue plan with auxiliary constables, members of the police dog service and the Whitehorse District Search and Rescue.
They searched the area between Long Lake and Gray Mountain Road on foot and with all-terrain vehicles until approximately 1:00 this morning, but were unable to find the missing patient.
The search was called off due to failing light, but continues today, said Sgt. Don Rogers, spokesperson for the Whitehorse RCMP.
The woman is known to frequent the downtown core and the riverbank.
Val Pike, the spokesperson for WGH, said the woman had been a patient since May 17 and was an "involuntary admission.”
She said hospital staff aren't "entirely sure” how the woman escaped. The door to her unit was locked, but the woman managed to slip through it. Pike noted that staff noticed her absence within three minutes of the disappearance.
"We found tracks every so often, so we knew where the person had been,” said Al Ekholm, head of Whitehorse Search and Rescue. "If you don't want to be found, that makes it a little more difficult.”
"We're always ready for the next call. We might have to go back out again,” said Ekholm.
"We need to find her, so that's where our focus is right now,” said Pike.
The patient may have some risk of self-harm but did not behave aggressively during her period of admission at WGH, said Pike.
Efforts to notify the woman's next-of-kin are currently underway.
Anyone who may have seen her is asked to contact the Whitehorse RCMP at 667-5555, or to call 9-1-1.
Comments (7)
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Garcia's middle finger on Jun 3, 2011 at 10:45 am
"The 37-year-old woman is four feet, eight inches tall, weighs 95 pounds and is Caucasian with short brown hair. She was wearing blue hospital pyjamas consisting of a button-up shirt and elastic waist trousers, hospital booties, a white cable knit sweater and a double-layered white or cream coloured toque. She may have been carrying a blue Bible."
...paints a definitive picture in my mind...
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CG on Jun 2, 2011 at 3:37 am
JC,
If you're going to throw around insults, calling people unintelligent, you should learn the difference between "its" and "it's", my friend.
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JC on May 31, 2011 at 8:40 am
Andrew Thur: Its clear that you're not the brightest candle on the mantle either are you?
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Andrew Thur on May 30, 2011 at 2:43 pm
How does one interpret from this story that the police are not cooperating? The woman was a hospital patient, not a prisoner, so how does JC even know that the police possess a picture of her to release? Why do people feel the need to make negative comments about something that they likely know little about?
AT
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Thomas Brewer on May 30, 2011 at 11:41 am
"She may have been carrying a blue Bible."
no worries, she's in good hands...
not.
but seriously, no name - no picture? no way.
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Josey Wales on May 30, 2011 at 10:23 am
JC...I think you already know the answer to this one, do you not...for real?
In the post PC/privacy insanity years...protection of those whom can harm us and often themselves too...but seldom only, absolutely trumps any public safety issues.
As often is the case up here and south too to a degree, the bleeding hearts scream "profiling" when photo's and descriptions are used.
Does that help at all?
....back on the public safety note...
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JC on May 30, 2011 at 8:28 am
Why is it when the RCMP want the public's assistance in finding someone, they won't cooperate. Duhh! A recent picture of the missing person would be a great help. She could have been located by now.