By Dan Hilborn
Published July 22, 2006
Three years after Harry Kierans leaped to his death out the windows of his 14th-floor suite in the Hall Towers at Kingsway and Edmonds, B.C. Housing is halfway through a $4.6-million program of installing safer, smaller and more energy-efficient windows in the two highrise apartment buildings.
"This is part of our modernization and improvement program," said Sam Rainboth, manager of public affairs for the government agency that provides social housing and rental subsidies for an estimated 67,000 households across the province.
While the window replacement program was "not directly related" to Kierans' suicide on July 25, 2003, the "safety of residents was a consideration," Rainboth said.
"The windows were in need of replacement," Rainboth said. Although the original windows met the building code when the towers were originally built - the first tower went up in 1972 and the second was completed five years later - they had developed water leaks and were requiring an increased amount of maintenance.
The new smaller windows are double paned and have stronger frames, and will also result in energy cost savings, he said, adding that one of the buildings has more than 300 separate windows.
Family members of Harry Kierans, who have been fighting for smaller windows in the buildings, said the replacement program is a cause of mixed emotions.
"Seeing the building being retrofitted with safe window units, I had a mixture of deep sadness and relief," said Harry's sister Mae Kierans, a Catholic nun. "Sadness that the retrofit was too late for my dear brother Harry, but relief for the other persons suffering from mental illness who still live there."
Kierans also told the Burnaby NOW that she was shocked when she first saw the large, old windows in the Hall Towers.
"Walking into his apartment days after his death, with the huge gaping window still wide open and the curtains still flapping out, I experienced vertigo," she said. "I could have fallen out myself from dizziness if I went near the windows to close them, so I stayed away from them. Any child could have fallen out, the ledges were so low.
"Why would anyone assign persons suffering from mental illness to such a death trap?"
Mae and Harry's other sister, lawyer Kathleen Walker, have been calling for a formal coroner's inquest into their brother's death for the past three years.
In a July 23, 2005 story published in the Burnaby NOW, the two sisters said that a lack of government services and a slow-moving bureaucracy were two key factors behind the suicide.
After filing a series of freedom of information requests to obtain their brother's government records, Harry's sisters received a stack of documents measuring more than 22-cm thick including several memos that indicate Harry had made several requests to move out of the Hall Tower in the months leading up to his suicide.
The sisters found that Harry and his wife, who suffered from bipolar disorder, had also received several threats of eviction from the building manager due to their inability to keep their apartment clean. The files also indicate that the couple had lost the services of a home support worker in 1999.
The most upsetting aspect of the reports was a memo indicating that a decision had been made to return the home support worker to Harry and his wife in the week prior to his suicide.
Also included in the documents was a "confidential issues note" dated Jan. 16, 2004 and presented to then-health minister Colin Hansen that gives the following summary of the original B.C. Coroner's report into Harry's death. "The (coroner's) report contains no recommendations, but it does highlight the serious issues relating to apparent systemic failures in providing care that was appropriate and well-coordinated among agencies, i.e. B.C. Housing, to meet the client's particular needs."
Mae Kierans continues to press her case for a formal investigation into the circumstances around her brother's death and has asked for assistance from Burnaby-Edmonds MLA Raj Chouhan, who was recently appointed the NDP critic for mental health.
Showing posts with label Harry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Harry. Show all posts
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Friday, July 4, 2008
The Tragic Death of Harry Kierans
A Special Report by Dan Hilborn
Published July 23, 2005
On July 25, 2003, Harry Cawthorpe Daniel Kierans leaped from the 14th-floor window of his apartment in the Edmonds area of Burnaby. Kierans, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, had been complaining for months about hearing voices urging him to kill himself. Reporter Dan Hilborn spoke to Harry's two sisters about their quest to find some answers about why their brother died despite repeated cries for help.
- - -
When Harry Kierans' wife returned home from playing bingo at about 10:45 p.m. on Friday, July 25, 2003, she knew immediately that something was wrong.
Ambulances and police cars had surrounded the Hall Tower apartment building where the 44-year-old woman lived with her husband. And, while emergency service vehicles were always a common sight in the Edmonds area, Mrs. Kierans knew she had a more serious reason to worry on that night.
Her 51-year-old husband had schizophrenia and, for the past six months, he had been complaining about the voices inside his head - scary voices that had been urging him to kill himself.
Earlier that evening, Harry had asked his wife to call home around 8 p.m., just to check in on him. When his partner of 21 years made that call, the phone just kept ringing.
So, Mrs. Kierans, who suffers from bipolar disorder, left her favourite bingo hall at a North Burnaby church and hopped onto the bus that would carry her on a long and circuitous ride from the Brentwood area back home to Edmonds.
When the police met her at the front doors of the highrise tower at 7272 Kingsway, she heard the bad news that she had been dreading - her husband and the father of her only child was dead after jumping out of the 14th-floor window of the couple's apartment.
"Harry was a good man," his wife told the Burnaby NOW last year. "He was very jolly, he never drank, but he was schizophrenic."
Harry's suicide was first made public on BCTV News on Global, when a camera was invited into the couple's apartment to see the decrepit conditions in which they lived.
At that time, Harry's two sisters - lawyer Kathleen Walker and Catholic nun Sister Mae Kierans - expressed the belief that their brother had died because of a lack of services and a slow-moving provincial government bureaucracy.
"I think the mentally ill are not a high priority for the politicians," said Mae Kierans, a retired psychotherapist and health- care manager based out of the St. Joseph Motherhouse in North Bay, Ont. "When we saw the coroner's report, we saw that it was shallow and inadequate and it dodged the questions."
Over the past 24 months, with the assistance of Jane Dyson, the executive director of the B.C. Coalition for Disabled Persons, Harry's two sisters have filed a series of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to obtain their brother's personal health records and related B.C. Housing documents. In early March, the family received a 22-centimetre-thick file of documents that they believe sheds light on his repeated pleas for help to the government agencies that were supposed to protect him.
Among the documents they obtained are repeated reports of Harry's threats to commit suicide and repeated complaints from B.C. Housing that the couple would be evicted if they did not do a better job of taking care of their personal hygiene and cleaning up their apartment.
But the family believes the problem started 10 years earlier, when Harry and his wife, two people with diagnosed mental health conditions, were unsafely moved onto the 14th floor of the Hall Tower, a building that has large open windows and where the family believes as many as four other suicides have taken place in the past decade.
"Harry is not the only mentally ill patient to have lived in that dangerous building, and he's not the only tenant to be deprived of important support services," said Mae. "I would like those who suffer from mental illness to have their services restored to an adequate level so they can lead dignified lives.
"My sense is, in British Columbia, those services are being cut back as they get ready for the 2010 Olympics. There's pressure to redivert funds and what it represents to me is it means the death of my brother."
Harry's sisters said the stresses began to build in Harry's life some time after 1999, when the former NDP government cancelled the home support worker who used to help clean the apartment where the two mentally ill adults lived.
Once that home support worker was gone, Harry and his wife began to receive a series of warnings from B.C. Housing, the government agency that operated the highrise where they lived, that they must do a better job of cleaning up after themselves or risk losing their apartment.
The FOI reports also indicate that Harry's hallucinations began to increase in both frequency and severity after August 2002, when he ended up in jail after becoming upset about his inability to attend a family reunion in Ontario.
By January 2003, as the pressures of his hallucinations and the threats of eviction from B.C. Housing increased, Harry formally requested a move out of the highrise apartment, even if it meant living away from his wife. That request was denied due to what B.C. Housing referred to as "tenancy issues."
Mae Kierans believes the refusal to allow Harry to move out of the building was one of the major factors in the suicide.
"The refusal of Harry's request for a transfer, I think, was extremely negligent on the part of the reviewer," Mae said. "I think that was the beginning of the end. The lack of consistent services, the withdrawal of services, it all set the stage for what happened."
Just 10 days before his suicide, Harry met with mental health workers and B.C. Housing staff to discuss the looming threat of eviction and to "expedite a functional assessment" to get support services into the home "as soon as possible."
But it was too late. Harry jumped to his death before his wife could return home from the bingo parlour that Friday night.
Now, almost two years after her brother's death, Mae Kierans believes there is much the B.C. government can do to ensure that other mental health patients receive the treatment, care and services they deserve.
"There were a lot of comments that people (government staff) were sick, off work or didn't have time to respond to every problem," Mae said. "So I get a sense that those front-line staff were run off their feet trying to look after these patients."
Mae is equally disturbed about several memos, written after her brother's suicide, which seem to imply that government staff had no advance warning of Harry's suicidal tendencies.
The South Burnaby mental health office's 'termination assessment,' written on Aug. 28, 2003, stated that Harry had been a client for 20 years and suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and dependent personality traits. That report has conflicting statements about his risk to himself and his suicidal intentions. While one part of the document acknowledges that Harry posed a high risk of suicide, the written summary indicates his decision to end his life came as a surprise.
"Harry had never presented as a risk of self-harm, had never voiced or made any suicidal gestures, but he unexpectedly jumped from the window of his 14th-floor apartment on July 25, 2003. He left no note and had not made any mention of this plan to friends, families or caregivers," said the report. The final line in the report, titled 'response to interventions,' contains the words: "Sadly, Harry suicided in the week before these services were initiated."
Other government documents produced after Harry's death express surprise at his actions.
An e-mail written on Sept. 11, 2003 said that health services and B.C. Housing staff were in favour of relocating the couple to a supportive living situation but the Kierans had "refused this type of living situation before and wanted to remain living independently."
Harry's sister said that report flies in the face of Harry's written request, presented to B.C. Housing just six months earlier, to move by himself into a new home.
A second B.C. Housing e-mail, written on Sept. 12, 2003 in response to media calls, claims a similar lack of knowledge about Harry's state of mind. "At no time during the tenancy was B.C. Housing made aware that the tenant was a suicide risk, nor had B.C. Housing received any complaint that the 14th-floor apartment was a risk to the tenant."
Another document, dated Jan. 16, 2004 and presented as an update to an Oct. 1, 2003 report, was a "confidential issues note" presented to then-health minister Colin Hansen. The paper gives the following summary of the B.C. Coroner's report into Harry's death. "The (coroner's) report contains no recommendations, but it does highlight the serious issues relating to apparent systemic failures in providing care that was appropriate and well-coordinated among agencies, i.e. B.C. Housing, to meet the client's particular needs."
Harry's family still has many unanswered questions.
"I am deeply concerned that the cover-up and buck-passing clearly evident in that (coroner's) report will mean Harry's tragic death is wasted and that there will be more suffering and suicide deaths of persons with disabilities in the care of B.C. government agencies," Mae wrote on March 7. "Documented demands were made of them as if their disabilities did not exist."
The Kierans family's attempts to have a juried inquest into Harry's death were formally rejected in an April 27 letter from the assistant chief deputy coroner of the province. The family is now hoping to take their case to the B.C. Ombudsman.
Published July 23, 2005
On July 25, 2003, Harry Cawthorpe Daniel Kierans leaped from the 14th-floor window of his apartment in the Edmonds area of Burnaby. Kierans, diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, had been complaining for months about hearing voices urging him to kill himself. Reporter Dan Hilborn spoke to Harry's two sisters about their quest to find some answers about why their brother died despite repeated cries for help.
- - -
When Harry Kierans' wife returned home from playing bingo at about 10:45 p.m. on Friday, July 25, 2003, she knew immediately that something was wrong.
Ambulances and police cars had surrounded the Hall Tower apartment building where the 44-year-old woman lived with her husband. And, while emergency service vehicles were always a common sight in the Edmonds area, Mrs. Kierans knew she had a more serious reason to worry on that night.
Her 51-year-old husband had schizophrenia and, for the past six months, he had been complaining about the voices inside his head - scary voices that had been urging him to kill himself.
Earlier that evening, Harry had asked his wife to call home around 8 p.m., just to check in on him. When his partner of 21 years made that call, the phone just kept ringing.
So, Mrs. Kierans, who suffers from bipolar disorder, left her favourite bingo hall at a North Burnaby church and hopped onto the bus that would carry her on a long and circuitous ride from the Brentwood area back home to Edmonds.
When the police met her at the front doors of the highrise tower at 7272 Kingsway, she heard the bad news that she had been dreading - her husband and the father of her only child was dead after jumping out of the 14th-floor window of the couple's apartment.
"Harry was a good man," his wife told the Burnaby NOW last year. "He was very jolly, he never drank, but he was schizophrenic."
Harry's suicide was first made public on BCTV News on Global, when a camera was invited into the couple's apartment to see the decrepit conditions in which they lived.
At that time, Harry's two sisters - lawyer Kathleen Walker and Catholic nun Sister Mae Kierans - expressed the belief that their brother had died because of a lack of services and a slow-moving provincial government bureaucracy.
"I think the mentally ill are not a high priority for the politicians," said Mae Kierans, a retired psychotherapist and health- care manager based out of the St. Joseph Motherhouse in North Bay, Ont. "When we saw the coroner's report, we saw that it was shallow and inadequate and it dodged the questions."
Over the past 24 months, with the assistance of Jane Dyson, the executive director of the B.C. Coalition for Disabled Persons, Harry's two sisters have filed a series of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to obtain their brother's personal health records and related B.C. Housing documents. In early March, the family received a 22-centimetre-thick file of documents that they believe sheds light on his repeated pleas for help to the government agencies that were supposed to protect him.
Among the documents they obtained are repeated reports of Harry's threats to commit suicide and repeated complaints from B.C. Housing that the couple would be evicted if they did not do a better job of taking care of their personal hygiene and cleaning up their apartment.
But the family believes the problem started 10 years earlier, when Harry and his wife, two people with diagnosed mental health conditions, were unsafely moved onto the 14th floor of the Hall Tower, a building that has large open windows and where the family believes as many as four other suicides have taken place in the past decade.
"Harry is not the only mentally ill patient to have lived in that dangerous building, and he's not the only tenant to be deprived of important support services," said Mae. "I would like those who suffer from mental illness to have their services restored to an adequate level so they can lead dignified lives.
"My sense is, in British Columbia, those services are being cut back as they get ready for the 2010 Olympics. There's pressure to redivert funds and what it represents to me is it means the death of my brother."
Harry's sisters said the stresses began to build in Harry's life some time after 1999, when the former NDP government cancelled the home support worker who used to help clean the apartment where the two mentally ill adults lived.
Once that home support worker was gone, Harry and his wife began to receive a series of warnings from B.C. Housing, the government agency that operated the highrise where they lived, that they must do a better job of cleaning up after themselves or risk losing their apartment.
The FOI reports also indicate that Harry's hallucinations began to increase in both frequency and severity after August 2002, when he ended up in jail after becoming upset about his inability to attend a family reunion in Ontario.
By January 2003, as the pressures of his hallucinations and the threats of eviction from B.C. Housing increased, Harry formally requested a move out of the highrise apartment, even if it meant living away from his wife. That request was denied due to what B.C. Housing referred to as "tenancy issues."
Mae Kierans believes the refusal to allow Harry to move out of the building was one of the major factors in the suicide.
"The refusal of Harry's request for a transfer, I think, was extremely negligent on the part of the reviewer," Mae said. "I think that was the beginning of the end. The lack of consistent services, the withdrawal of services, it all set the stage for what happened."
Just 10 days before his suicide, Harry met with mental health workers and B.C. Housing staff to discuss the looming threat of eviction and to "expedite a functional assessment" to get support services into the home "as soon as possible."
But it was too late. Harry jumped to his death before his wife could return home from the bingo parlour that Friday night.
Now, almost two years after her brother's death, Mae Kierans believes there is much the B.C. government can do to ensure that other mental health patients receive the treatment, care and services they deserve.
"There were a lot of comments that people (government staff) were sick, off work or didn't have time to respond to every problem," Mae said. "So I get a sense that those front-line staff were run off their feet trying to look after these patients."
Mae is equally disturbed about several memos, written after her brother's suicide, which seem to imply that government staff had no advance warning of Harry's suicidal tendencies.
The South Burnaby mental health office's 'termination assessment,' written on Aug. 28, 2003, stated that Harry had been a client for 20 years and suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and dependent personality traits. That report has conflicting statements about his risk to himself and his suicidal intentions. While one part of the document acknowledges that Harry posed a high risk of suicide, the written summary indicates his decision to end his life came as a surprise.
"Harry had never presented as a risk of self-harm, had never voiced or made any suicidal gestures, but he unexpectedly jumped from the window of his 14th-floor apartment on July 25, 2003. He left no note and had not made any mention of this plan to friends, families or caregivers," said the report. The final line in the report, titled 'response to interventions,' contains the words: "Sadly, Harry suicided in the week before these services were initiated."
Other government documents produced after Harry's death express surprise at his actions.
An e-mail written on Sept. 11, 2003 said that health services and B.C. Housing staff were in favour of relocating the couple to a supportive living situation but the Kierans had "refused this type of living situation before and wanted to remain living independently."
Harry's sister said that report flies in the face of Harry's written request, presented to B.C. Housing just six months earlier, to move by himself into a new home.
A second B.C. Housing e-mail, written on Sept. 12, 2003 in response to media calls, claims a similar lack of knowledge about Harry's state of mind. "At no time during the tenancy was B.C. Housing made aware that the tenant was a suicide risk, nor had B.C. Housing received any complaint that the 14th-floor apartment was a risk to the tenant."
Another document, dated Jan. 16, 2004 and presented as an update to an Oct. 1, 2003 report, was a "confidential issues note" presented to then-health minister Colin Hansen. The paper gives the following summary of the B.C. Coroner's report into Harry's death. "The (coroner's) report contains no recommendations, but it does highlight the serious issues relating to apparent systemic failures in providing care that was appropriate and well-coordinated among agencies, i.e. B.C. Housing, to meet the client's particular needs."
Harry's family still has many unanswered questions.
"I am deeply concerned that the cover-up and buck-passing clearly evident in that (coroner's) report will mean Harry's tragic death is wasted and that there will be more suffering and suicide deaths of persons with disabilities in the care of B.C. government agencies," Mae wrote on March 7. "Documented demands were made of them as if their disabilities did not exist."
The Kierans family's attempts to have a juried inquest into Harry's death were formally rejected in an April 27 letter from the assistant chief deputy coroner of the province. The family is now hoping to take their case to the B.C. Ombudsman.
Know the warning signs
By Dan Hilborn
Published July 23, 2005
Be aware of the warning signs of suicide and be prepared to take action. Those were the words of warning from B.C. Schizophrenia Society regional coordinator David Dickinson after hearing about the suicide of Harry Kierans in Burnaby.
"If you know somebody who has been talking about suicide, it should definitely be taken seriously," said Dickinson, who is responsible for advocacy and providing programs to people with schizophrenia in the Burnaby and New Westminster area.
And the single best thing a person can do if a friend or family member with a mental illness begins to talk about suicide or express feelings of hopelessness is to contact that person's doctor or therapist, Dickinson said.
The warning signs are fairly easy to spot, he said. Often, a person with a mental health disorder will talk about suicide before they make any attempt on their own life. Other signs include expressing feelings of worthlessness or hopelessness, or else admitting that they hear voices telling them to kill themselves.
And there is good reason to be extra cautious when dealing with a potentially suicidal person with schizophrenia. Dickinson said that one out of every seven people with the disease will attempt suicide at some point in their lives.
"Fifteen per cent is a pretty consistent stat," he said. "And another thing you might want to consider is that if somebody really wants to commit suicide, there's many different ways to do it."
Dickinson refused to talk about the Kierans' case specifically but said he would be opposed to the idea of banning people with schizophrenia from living in the Hall Tower highrises with their floor-to-ceiling windows.
"I don't know the background of this story, but I think, in general, if people are being treated for a mental illness, I can't really see that we can restrict where they live or don't live," he said. "That's because most people, once they begin treatment, can lead a healthy and productive life.
"To restrict people because of their illness or because they've had a diagnosis of schizophrenia sounds a little discriminatory," he said. "I would say that people living with a mental illness should be allowed to make the housing choices that suit them."
In Burnaby, the central mental health team is available to take phone calls during regular hours at 604 453-1930. After-hours mental health workers can be reached at 604-527-0009. In the event of an emergency, call 911.
Published July 23, 2005
Be aware of the warning signs of suicide and be prepared to take action. Those were the words of warning from B.C. Schizophrenia Society regional coordinator David Dickinson after hearing about the suicide of Harry Kierans in Burnaby.
"If you know somebody who has been talking about suicide, it should definitely be taken seriously," said Dickinson, who is responsible for advocacy and providing programs to people with schizophrenia in the Burnaby and New Westminster area.
And the single best thing a person can do if a friend or family member with a mental illness begins to talk about suicide or express feelings of hopelessness is to contact that person's doctor or therapist, Dickinson said.
The warning signs are fairly easy to spot, he said. Often, a person with a mental health disorder will talk about suicide before they make any attempt on their own life. Other signs include expressing feelings of worthlessness or hopelessness, or else admitting that they hear voices telling them to kill themselves.
And there is good reason to be extra cautious when dealing with a potentially suicidal person with schizophrenia. Dickinson said that one out of every seven people with the disease will attempt suicide at some point in their lives.
"Fifteen per cent is a pretty consistent stat," he said. "And another thing you might want to consider is that if somebody really wants to commit suicide, there's many different ways to do it."
Dickinson refused to talk about the Kierans' case specifically but said he would be opposed to the idea of banning people with schizophrenia from living in the Hall Tower highrises with their floor-to-ceiling windows.
"I don't know the background of this story, but I think, in general, if people are being treated for a mental illness, I can't really see that we can restrict where they live or don't live," he said. "That's because most people, once they begin treatment, can lead a healthy and productive life.
"To restrict people because of their illness or because they've had a diagnosis of schizophrenia sounds a little discriminatory," he said. "I would say that people living with a mental illness should be allowed to make the housing choices that suit them."
In Burnaby, the central mental health team is available to take phone calls during regular hours at 604 453-1930. After-hours mental health workers can be reached at 604-527-0009. In the event of an emergency, call 911.
Advocacy and being pushy can help a family in trouble
Published July 23, 2005
A former justice of the peace whose quick thinking may have helped prevent her brother from jumping off the Pattullo Bridge several years ago is calling for more public awareness about mental health issues.
Mary, who asked that her real name not be used, said her clinically depressed brother is doing well today, but only because he takes his medication, has family members who are willing to step in and help and because she's pushy.
"So many people are vulnerable to these feelings of helplessness and worthlessness," said the woman, who is now a stay-at-home mother with two small children. "I was once told that depression can be like someone else has crawled into your skin.
"Depression interferes with your ability to think logically. You get psychosis and voices tell you that this (suicide) is the rational thing to do."
Mary remembers one time, after her brother voluntarily admitted himself to hospital for observation, when hospital staff were forced to let him leave the psychiatric ward even though they were still concerned about his state of mind. Mary, who knew the hospital staff because she lived only a block away, received a phone call saying her brother was talking about the bridge and other high places.
Mary immediately called police - whom she also knew through her work - who dispatched a patrol vehicle to the bridge, where they found her brother.
"He was standing there throwing coins off the bridge. I'm just glad he didn't run out of coins."
Mary said her brother is doing fine today, thanks in some small part to the fact that his sister is well-connected and knows what buttons to push.
"I've really had to be proactive and pushy. Even today, he gets his medication provided for, but he has no talk therapy at all, even though all the research shows that a combination of medication and cognitive behaviour modification are what works best," she said. "I think a lot of the reason why my brother is doing so well today is because there was a lot of advocacy and I know how to be pushy."
Mary also said it is important for families to speak openly about mental health issues if one of their relatives either displays the signs of depression or has a clinical diagnosis.
"I've spoken to my children - even the little guy," she said. "What I say is, 'If you're feeling really sad - tell me.' I think it's really important with children that they know there is always a way out of a problem. Nothing is insurmountable.
"Hopefully, by putting out that information now, if they do have a depressive episode later in life, they can draw back to that early learning."
A former justice of the peace whose quick thinking may have helped prevent her brother from jumping off the Pattullo Bridge several years ago is calling for more public awareness about mental health issues.
Mary, who asked that her real name not be used, said her clinically depressed brother is doing well today, but only because he takes his medication, has family members who are willing to step in and help and because she's pushy.
"So many people are vulnerable to these feelings of helplessness and worthlessness," said the woman, who is now a stay-at-home mother with two small children. "I was once told that depression can be like someone else has crawled into your skin.
"Depression interferes with your ability to think logically. You get psychosis and voices tell you that this (suicide) is the rational thing to do."
Mary remembers one time, after her brother voluntarily admitted himself to hospital for observation, when hospital staff were forced to let him leave the psychiatric ward even though they were still concerned about his state of mind. Mary, who knew the hospital staff because she lived only a block away, received a phone call saying her brother was talking about the bridge and other high places.
Mary immediately called police - whom she also knew through her work - who dispatched a patrol vehicle to the bridge, where they found her brother.
"He was standing there throwing coins off the bridge. I'm just glad he didn't run out of coins."
Mary said her brother is doing fine today, thanks in some small part to the fact that his sister is well-connected and knows what buttons to push.
"I've really had to be proactive and pushy. Even today, he gets his medication provided for, but he has no talk therapy at all, even though all the research shows that a combination of medication and cognitive behaviour modification are what works best," she said. "I think a lot of the reason why my brother is doing so well today is because there was a lot of advocacy and I know how to be pushy."
Mary also said it is important for families to speak openly about mental health issues if one of their relatives either displays the signs of depression or has a clinical diagnosis.
"I've spoken to my children - even the little guy," she said. "What I say is, 'If you're feeling really sad - tell me.' I think it's really important with children that they know there is always a way out of a problem. Nothing is insurmountable.
"Hopefully, by putting out that information now, if they do have a depressive episode later in life, they can draw back to that early learning."
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