Body of missing North Vancouver senior found

The body of a 76-year-old senior with dementia has been found after she wandered away from her care home in North Vancouver, the woman's family has confirmed.

RCMP and North Shore Rescue had been searching for Joan Warren since she left her seniors' residence in the 900 block of Lynn Valley Road in North Vancouver at 9 a.m. PT Friday morning.

On Sunday afternoon, officials announced they had called off the search although Warren's family and members of the community continued to look for her. Her body was discovered early Sunday evening.

Questions about nursing home

Warren was staying in a secure section of Sunrise Senior Living on the North Shore, a private care facility "whose members are experts in relationship-based Alzheimers and memory care" according to the centre's website.

When asked about security in their facilities, Jeff Slichta, senior vice-president of operations for Sunrise Senior Living's Western Division, said there are alarmed doors and designated care managers who are there to keep residents from wandering away.

But when asked what could have gone wrong in Warren's case, Slichta refused to comment.

"Our buildings have high levels of security in them. We have policies, procedures and systems in place to prevent things like this happening," he said.

"I am here right now and will be here for the foreseeable future to see exactly what may or may not have happened, but again I cannot speak specifically about this incident."

Warren's family told CBC News her mother was supposed to be wearing a bracelet that should have prevented her from exiting the facility.

B.C. Health Minister Terry Lake said he would look at the Joan Warren case to see if changes should be made to better protect elderly patients.

"We do have legislation, the Community Care and Assisted Living Act, which has regulations around the monitoring of people who require it. So we'll certainly look to the investigation by the coroner's office, the medical health officer and Vancouver Coastal Health to see what exactly went wrong and anything we can do to improve the situation."