Inquest: deaf LaChance unable to express pain

The inquest into a teen’s death while in the care of staff from Prince Albert’s Youth Residence (PAYR) is revealing a lot about his time in the facility.

Dylan LaChance was 16 years old in September 2013 when he was arrested by the RCMP after a fight outside Big River First Nation’s high school.

He died in a Saskatoon hospital a week after his Sept. 12 admittance to the PAYR. The coroner’s inquest into his death is intended to inform the public of the circumstances surrounding LaChance’s death, provide recommendations to prevent future deaths of that nature, and to warn the public of practices that cause deaths in that manner.

Events leading up to hospital admission

Testimony at the inquest – which started Monday – detailed LaChance’s stay at PAYR before things took a drastic turn on Sept. 19, 2013. He visited court twice, visited a doctor, had a family visit and expressed that he was in pain throughout his stay.

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Brad Impey, a case management worker at PAYR, interacted with LaChance almost daily after LaChance’s admission to the facility on Sept. 12.

Early on, staff noticed he had trouble communicating as they went over rules, policies, and procedures LaChance must follow while in the remand side of the facility, Impey testified.

LaChance was almost completely deaf and spoke through sign language, FSIN Vice-Chief Kimberly Jonathan explained during a break in the inquest. LaChance’s family asked Jonathan to ask questions alongside lawyers at the inquest on their behalf.

Among her questions were what provisions staff had for communication with someone like LaChance.

Impey explained a staff member tried signing but was still unable to communicate with LaChance. Overall, staff communicated in exaggerated gestures and some wrote on paper, he said, adding that communicating was very difficult.

Overall, LaChance was in good spirits until Sept. 15, according to testimony. LaChance left his remand cell to have lunch and played basketball outside that day despite gesturing he was feeling back pain.

LaChance indicated he’d been kicked in the back earlier and later that night a staff member got him an ice pack, Impey said.

The following day LaChance was taken to a doctor for that pain, who said he was suffering non-serious soft tissue damage, Impey said.

In the days after LaChance spent a lot of time in his room, but “lots of kids like to sleep their time away” while in custody even though they’re encouraged to take part in activities, Impey explained.

When the counsel asking questions on behalf of the coroner, John Morrall, asked if there’s anything Impey would have done differently he responded “I’ve thought about that over and over again.”

However, Impey said he can’t imagine anything else.

Jonathan’s questions revealed a theme of poor communication throughout LaChance’s last week.

His two trips to court were escorted and supervised by either the RCMP or staff from outside PAYR.

Jonathan pointed out LaChance’s sister was at one of those appearances and that seeing he couldn’t stand among other things, he was visibly in distress.

Staff at the PAYR don’t often ask what happened in court, Impey said, meaning it’s possible LaChance didn’t even understand what had happened during his two proceedings.

Concerns about LaChance’s needs

During a break in the inquest, Jonathan expressed many concerns on behalf of the family.

Although she appreciates the staff’s effort to use sign language, Jonathan pointed out it’s not clear if that person was fluent. As a woman who does know sign language and has a brother who’s deaf, she said it’s important that special needs like that don’t hold them back from communicating.

Another important concern Jonathan has surrounds the doctor’s visit LaChance had with a PAYR staff member acting has his caregiver.

She said she wonders “if the caregiver provided the ability for Dylan to speak to the doctor, to be able to communicate. It’s even hard for us [as people who can speak] to communicate what is going wrong with our bodies.”

claskowski@panow.com

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk