Inquest into B.C. womans starvation death hears of home-share provider burnout [Video]

The independent advocate in charge of helping adults with developmental disabilities navigate B.C. government supports says his office often hears about home-share providers who are exhausted and constantly in “crisis mode.”

Cary Chiu, the province’s advocate for service quality, says more money needs to be paid to those offering care in their homes for people with developmental disabilities to both preserve the integrity of the program and revitalize the quality of its pool of providers.

Chiu was the last person to testify in the coroner’s inquest into the death of Florence Girard, a 54-year-old woman with Down syndrome who starved to death while living in her caretaker’s home in October 2018.

Girard weighed about 50 pounds when she died while living with Astrid Dahl as part of a program funded by the provincial Crown corporation Community Living BC and contracted out to the non-profit Kinsight Community Society.

Dahl, who was convicted in …