Joan Roberts loved her two bracelets.
One was a gold, chain-link piece of jewelry, and the other was a diamond tennis bracelet.
Roberts, 88, wore both of those when she entered Ridge Meadows Hospital last fall because they were treasured keepsakes that reminded her of home as she entered the health system.
Roberts was admitted to the assessment unit in early October, when her bracelets were removed because of a fear of swelling.
Her daughter, Sue Keast, said that a nurse put them in a locked cupboard where narcotics were usually stored.
Days later, on Oct. 12, after her mom was transferred to the acute care unit, she asked about her bracelets. Staff checked the former location in the assessment unit, but the bracelets were nowhere to be found.
“Everybody looked around for them,” said Keast.
“That [narcotics cupboard] wasn’t where she was supposed put them, according to the woman in the claims department. There’s another place that you put things like that. Maybe only narcotics belong in the narcotics cupboard,” Keast said.
Her mom – a carnival queen in Haney in 1946 or 1947 – died on Nov. 1, with her bracelets still missing.
Keast inquired about the bracelets with the acute care department that day and was told that the hospital couldn’t locate them and to get an appraisal to make a claim for the lost property.
She e-mailed in her appraisal on Nov. 6 and didn’t hear anything for weeks. She called Ridge Meadows Hospital management from her Parksville home on Nov. 30 and was referred to the claims department in Fraser Health and a few days later was told the claims department didn’t know anything about it.
Keast said that according to Ridge Meadows Hospital and Fraser Health, the bracelets were not stolen, but they did admit that they were lost and told her to file a claim.
While Keast thought the jewelry had only sentimental value for her mom, a description of the bracelets and a sample of the some of the stones that used to be in the bracelet led to an appraised value of more than $5,000 for the two bracelets.
“To be honest, we didn’t even know they were valuable. But that’s not the point,” Keast said.
Eventually, in February, she did hear from Fraser Health and was told the family would be reimbursed $2,800, after an initial offer of $2,000.
After hearing about rings that were stolen off a dying woman’s fingers in Mission, Keast felt that relatives should contact the hospital as soon as possible and to try to get answers.
Had she received a definite answer from the hospital, the items could have been put on the pawn shop registry, which monitors lists of items that have been reported stolen.
“It could have been settled in one week.”
Keast also called police twice, but it took RCMP another two weeks to tell her they wouldn’t investigate and that it was a civil matter. A file though was opened as part of the insurance claim process.
“People should be aware that they need to protect their loved ones’ valuables,” Keast added.
She wonders why missing items are considered lost, instead of stolen, which would then involve police.
While Fraser Health has offered the family $2,800, Keast also filed a claim with her mom’s home insurance company, which also agreed to pay a claim of $5,000, less a $500 deductible.
Keast, in turn, will reimburse the insurance company the amount paid by Fraser Health because she holds Fraser Health responsible.
“The money that we got back from Fraser Health, we turned around and gave back to the insurance company,” Keast said.
“They have to protect the property of their loved ones when their loved ones are in the care of Fraser Health. Don’t let things drag on like this.”
Fraser Health spokesperson Tasleem Juma said the health authority encourages patients to leave their valuables at home.
“In cases like this, where personal items are removed from patients in order to provide medical care, they are either given to family or friends for safekeeping, or locked away until they can be returned to the patient or the family.”
Fraser Health also encourages the family or patient to file a police report, which was done in this case.
“We appreciate how upsetting this has been for the family as we worked to resolve this issue,” Juma said.
