Report suggests Alberta policies a factor in death of mental-health worker

EDMONTON – A report suggests failings in Alberta government policy were a factor in the death of a mental-health worker who was killed by a client with a long history of unpredictable, violent behaviour.

Valerie Wolski, 41, was alone with Terrence Saddleback in February 2011 when she was strangled in a Camrose, Alta., care home.

Saddleback — who weighed 300 pounds and stood six feet, five inches tall — towered over Wolski, who worked for the Canadian Mental Health Association.

The fatality inquiry report says health agencies were arguing in the months before Wolski was killed over whether Saddleback should be cared for in a secure mental-health facility called the Michener Centre.

At the time, the government was moving from an institutional model of care for the developmentally disabled to a community-based one.

Judge Bart Rosborough said the province is responsible for ensuring proper care for developmentally disabled people with complex needs.

“The qualification, selection, monitoring and accountability of those providing services in that regard are all parts of that responsibility,” reads his report released Wednesday.

“There were direct and immediate failings in this case which contributed to the death of Wolski.”

The report says the Human Services Department knew in 2010 that Saddleback was so aggressive and dangerous that it took five RCMP officers to subdue him during a violent outburst the previous year.

Despite his history of violence, some Canadian Mental Health Association staff were under the impression that Saddleback was considered to be a “teddy bear” and a “gentle giant.”

Rosborough recommends that workers should not be assigned to care for people they can’t physically manage and that women should not be assigned to care for clients who have demonstrated aggression toward females.

He also recommends the government should have an outside agency review how the province shares information when it has safety concerns about people in care.

Rosborough said the government should complete a report on how it has followed up on all Alberta fatality inquiry recommendations.

He cited a report released in 2008 into the death of a female caregiver in 2002 by a youth at a Lethbridge, Alta., group home. The judge in that case also recommended that people should only be assigned to the care of case workers who can physically manage them.

“One is left to wonder whether Wolski would be alive today if the recommendations made by (Judge) Malin in 2008 had been followed,” Rosborough said.

Premier Rachel Notley said Alberta has improved safety standards and how agencies communicate with each others since Wolski’s death. She said Alberta Justice is working on a way to track how the government responds to fatality inquiry recommendations.

“It is long overdue for us to get into the practice of holding ourselves accountable for the recommendations,” she said.

“It doesn’t mean we will accept every recommendation, but if we don’t, we should tell the people of Alberta why.”

Saddleback was charged with manslaughter but was found mentally unfit to stand trial.

Fatality inquiries do not assess blame but make recommendations to help prevent future deaths.