UPDATE AUGUST 29, 2023
URGENT: I HAVE BEEN ADVISED TO ENCOURAGE ADVOCACY FOR ANDREW'S MEDICAL TRANSFER. PLEASE SEND AN E-MAIL, TWITTER, WRITE OR PHONE:
PREMIER DOUG FORD - PREMIER@ONTARIO.CA 416-325-1941
HON. SYLVIA JONES - SYLVIA.JONES@ONTARIO.CA 416-325-7600
HON. MICHAEL TIBOLLO - MICHAEL. TIBOLLO@ONTARIO.CA 416-327-4300
I WAS HOPING TO RECEIVE AN UPDATE FROM THE OFFICE OF HON. SYLVIA JONES CONCERNING ANDREW'S MEDICAL TRANSFER, BUT THAT HAS NOT HAPPENED.
FIRST SIGHTING:
8:30 a.m. Andrew was seen at Weston Road by the 401 Highway.
SECOND SIGHTING:
7:18 p.m. Andrew was spotted August 29, 2023 in front of Dollarama at Dufferin and Clark in Thornhill.
8:45 p.m. A lady went back to the Dollarama to give Andrew peanut butter, bread and chips but he was gone. They took a drive down the road and located him. They offered the food but Andrew politely declined. They said he started heading back to Dufferin and Clark. There is a big plaza, high school and community centre where he might settle to sleep the night. They said it was 21 degrees but could go down to 15 degrees, He is wearing his New England Patriot long sleeve shirt.
Andrew walked 24.7k today.
Kim Zarzour, Torstar, reporter will release The second part of her story, "GUT WRENCHING NIGHTMARE": FROM P.E.I. TO TORONTO MOTHER SEARCHES TO HELP HER HOMELESS SON" AUGUST 30, 2023.
THE PLEASE BRING ANDREW BRYENTON HOME PETITION has 6931 signatures. Change.org suggests that 7500 is the point when decision makers take the petition seriously and take ACTION! We need 569 signatures. Please help. Here is the link: https://chng.it/TMKMZfHH2p
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PREMIER DOUG FORD'S MESSAGE
PREMIER DOUG FORD sent me this message August 23, 2023.
"Thanks for reaching out about your son Andrew and his current health situation. I'm sorry to hear about the difficult experiences and challenges you've had to overcome.
With that said, I do appreciate your insight on this matter and take your concerns seriously. I've forwarded your email to the Honourable Sylvia Jones, Minister of Health, for her information."
Thanks again for contacting me.
Doug Ford
Premier of Ontario
c: The Honourable Sylvia Jones
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MEDIA COVERAGE
Here is the GLOBE AND MAIL story written by Marcus Gee. It was published August 25, 2023. Photographs taken by John Morris.
Marlene Bryenton was desperate. Her son was homeless on the streets of Toronto.
Stricken by mental illness, he had lost everything: his comfortable home in Charlottetown, his job, his family. Ms. Bryenton had no idea how he was surviving.
So she enlisted the power of the internet. She started joining Facebook groups for Toronto neighbourhoods and asking whether anyone had seen her son, a rangy six-foot, three-inch former athlete.
Reports about him started coming. He was outside a fast-food joint, talking to himself. He was walking rapidly along a busy city street. He was asleep on the sidewalk. Some people added pictures and videos.
Now a stream of reports crosses her screen every day. Hundreds of perfect strangers have posted observations. “They are my eyes and ears,” says Ms. Bryenton, 73, a retired civil servant turned children’s author.
A crisis of neglect: How society can help those with mental illness
Even though she lives 1,700 kilometers away, she can follow her son almost in real time. Earlier this month, someone spotted him on the ramp to the 409 Highway near Pearson airport. It was raining and he was running toward oncoming traffic. Ms. Bryenton called the police, but they couldn’t find him.
The next morning someone saw him walking along a suburban street, “quite skinny and dirty,” but “physically moving well.” Ms. Bryenton heaved a sigh of relief.
Every day, she posts an update on his wanderings, sometimes adding a map to show where he has travelled. Her son, 39, is constantly on the move, often walking 20 kilometres a day.
1
6:30 a.m.: He was at 90 Warren Rd. next to Timothy Eaton Church. He slept there.
2
8:04 a.m.: Walking south at Bathurst St. and Melgund Rd. by the library.
3
8:40 a.m.: He was on Bathurst St. at Lennox St. walking south.
4
10:30 a.m.: He was at Golden Wheat Bakery on College St. at Grace St.
5
11:30 a.m.: He was seen on College St. W., in front of Ultramar. Went toward Sterling Ave.
6
12:35 p.m.: He was seen walking north with Tim Hortons coffee on Roncevalles Ave. and Geoffrey St.
7
3:04 p.m.: He was seen at 2440 Dundas St., outside a grocery store.
8
5:36 p.m.: He was seen at Eglinton Ave. and Jane St. crossing the intersection westbound.
9
Evening: A lady spoke to him and said he was kind. He was heading north on Kipling Ave. It started to rain.
10
Evening: He was seen going west on Dixon Rd., near Kipling Ave.
11
Evening: He was heading toward the airport on Dixon Rd. near Martin Grove Rd. He was soaked and his pants were pushed up.
12
Evening: He was seen walking against traffic, running on the ramp on Highway 409.
MURAT YÜKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL, SOURCE: MARLENE BRYENTON.
Her crowdsourced chronicle offers a window into the nomadic and often dangerous lives of people like him. It also highlights the anguish suffered by the families of the thousands of mentally ill people who are roaming the streets of Canadian cities. Many families complain of being shut out by a system that puts too much stress on the autonomy of their loved ones and too little on their welfare.
Ms. Bryenton wants to bring her son home to Prince Edward Island for mental-health treatment. But first, she has to persuade authorities that he poses a serious risk to himself or others.
In July, a justice of the peace agreed to have him “formed,” or detained for treatment under a special application. Police picked him up and brought him to hospital, but he was released 72 hours later after a psychiatrist’s assessment.
The decision infuriated his mother. “I had breast cancer twice,” she says. “I got treatment. He has a mental illness. Yet he is thrown to the streets to fend for himself.”
Parents like her, she says, are left scrambling to pick up the pieces. “We get virtually no support.”
The Editorial Board: On mental health education, Ontario is now in a class of its own.
Ms. Bryenton looks at a picture of her son in her home.
JOHN MORRIS/THE GLOBE AND MAIL
It happened again just recently. Ms. Bryenton petitioned a justice of the peace. Police picked her son up and took him to hospital. This Monday at 1 p.m., after 72 hours had passed, the hospital released him. Ms. Bryenton says no one told her why.
Even though she had provided reams of information about the dangers he faced, including two reports that said he was almost run over, he was right back on the street.
Within minutes, sightings started popping up on her feed. He was at Dundas and Bloor. He was at Jane and Bloor. By 8 in the evening, he was seen 14 kilometers from the hospital. The handsome guy who once wore a suit to work was clad in tattered sneakers and pants with a big hole in them.
Ms. Bryenton sometimes feels like throwing up her hands. Instead, she is fighting back. She has persuaded more than 6,000 people to sign a petition calling for help getting her son home. She has lobbied her local MP and MLA for change in mental-health laws.
She has written to Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who replied that he was sorry about her “difficult experiences” and was forwarding her complaint to his Health Minister.
Before her son’s illness, Ms. Bryenton says, he was a solid citizen – a star baseball pitcher and bowling champion in his youth, a deacon at his church, a marathon runner. He married, had two kids and became assistant manager at a local bank, well-liked for patiently helping older people manage their accounts.
But five years ago he began suffering from delusions. He spent a month in hospital and went on medications for his symptoms, but complained they made him feel robotic and stopped taking them.
His marriage broke up. He came home to live with his parents for a couple of years, then got a place of his own nearby. Last fall he abruptly left his home province, bouncing from place to place and finally moving to Toronto, where he had once worked.
His mother says he has become suspicious and reclusive. He refuses to visit shelters or soup kitchens. Instead, he simply drifts, walking much of the night and often sleeping on lawns. To feed himself, he stands outside supermarkets asking shoppers to buy him cereal or peanut butter.
He doesn’t use drugs or alcohol and is usually polite and never violent. But the reports and photos on Ms. Bryenton’s feed show a thin, drawn figure, a shadow of the man he was. She fears he won’t survive the coming winter.
“We’re walking on eggshells every day, wondering whether a police officer will call. We’ve got to get him back home,” she says.
Not everyone supports her campaign. Some commenters have said that she risks worsening his mental health by telling his story so publicly. One posted that, regardless of his condition, it is his choice whether to get treatment. Ms. Bryenton should simply “let him be.”
Many advocates strongly oppose involuntary treatment, arguing that detaining mentally-ill individuals is an echo of a time when they were locked up in dank asylums.
Ms. Bryenton is undeterred. She says that until her son gets the help he needs, “this mother is never going to give up.”
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ADVOCACY
Advocacy is now being encouraged as no update has been received from the office of Hon. Sylvia Jones, concerning Andrew's medical transfer.
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LOBBYING EFFORTS
I am lobbying for a P.E.I. Missing Persons Act, P.E.I. Community Treatment Order and Federal Advanced Medical Directive. I have sent e-mails to MP Sean Casey, Premier Dennis King, Hon. Mark McLane, Minister of Health; Dr. Javier Salabarria, Medical Director Mental Health & Addictions, and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Prince Edward Island.
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PLEASE NOTE
PLEASE DO NOT CALL ANDREW BY NAME. PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT POLICE UNLESS ANDREW IS IN DISTRESS. MY PROFILE PAGE PROVIDES UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE DAY.
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PETITION
The PLEASE BRING ANDREW BRYENTON HOME TO PEI PETITION has received 6931 signatures so far. These are caring and compassionate residents of Ontario and Prince Edward Island. Here is the link: https://chng.it/TMKMZfHH2p
Change.Org states that with 7,500 signatures, this petition is more likely to get a reaction from the decision maker. PLEASE HELP US REACH THIS GOAL!
We are most thankful to the people of Ontario who are caring for our son, Andrew, by providing him with food, water, money and clothing as well as giving me daily sightings.
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MEDIA COVERAGE
The TORSTAR YORK REGION.COM story written by Kim Zarzour was published Saturday, August 26, 2023. The headline was, "GUT-WRENCHING NIGHTMARE": FROM P.E.I. TO TORONTO MOTHER SEARCHES TO HELP HER HOMELESS SON. This is the first part of a two part story. The second part will be released August 30, 2023.
Here is a post that TOR STAR reporter, Kim Zarzour, made on a Facebook page today. She tells it like it is!
As a mom of three adult children, I can't imagine what this family is going through. A mom is always a mom, no matter how old their child is. It broke my heart to talk with Marlene about what it's like to watch your son lost and in pain.
I hope this story opens your eyes, as it did mine. Part two is coming Wednesday, August 30, 2023. Thank you for reading.
What would you do if your grown child became seriously ill? Would you call a doctor, take him to hospital, get him help?
What if it he were mentally ill and that illness caused anosognosia — an inability to recognize he’s sick — and he refused help, disappeared, blended into the growing morass of homeless people living on our streets?
Here’s one family’s story, an example, some say, of how we are failing those with mental illness and those who care for them.
It is, she says, a parent’s "most gut-wrenching nightmare."
For 10 months, through tears and sleepless nights, Marlene Bryenton scours her computer for signs of her only son (whose name is being withheld for privacy reasons).
Some days, she barely takes time to eat, flipping from one community Facebook group to the next, as social media shares posts and pictures of a tall, slim man, unshaven, with dirty blond hair, hands in pockets, eyes downcast.
Her 39-year-old son was a father, husband, homeowner and assistant manager of a local bank in PEI, a National Youth Bowling champion, Sport PEI all-around athlete of the year, youth leader and deacon at his church until, she says, delusions and serious mental illness took hold five years ago, leaving him a shell of the gregarious self he used to be.
She is reassured to see reports of him alive, on street corners, huddled outside buildings, curled up on parkland and pavement and bank vestibules.
Sometimes, he’s holding a coffee or box of Fruit Loops, other times talking to himself, or shaking, or screaming.
In the same way she watched him, as a toddler learn to walk, and as a young man compete in marathons, she now monitors the many miles he walks day and night in another province thousands of miles away, through inclement weather on sidewalk-free highways, along 400-series ramps and into oncoming traffic.
Shortly after her son disappeared, Bryenton turned to local community groups and online petition to find him. Since then, she says, hundreds of caring people across southern Ontario have reached out with reports of sightings.
Paranoia causes him to steer clear of people, she says, and he won’t use shelters, food banks or social services, so she asks the growing army of social media Samaritans to send photos and help if they can — but leave any food or water a few feet away and not call him by name.
She asks for things she thinks he might need: a blanket, a raincoat, sneakers, size 13.
It warms her heart that people do help — people like Jordyn Lee who saw him after work near Yonge and Eglinton.
Polite and well-spoken, he asked her for three Pepsi minis. She ran into the dollar store, buying him that and a loaf of bread, peanut butter, spoons to spread it and water, too.
"He was so soft-spoken and kind of broke my heart," she recalls. "When I looked into his eyes, I just felt horrible for him. He just looked lost.
"If he was my child, I would hope there'd be people in this world who would help," she adds. "And Marlene's not giving up. It takes moms that don't give up for change to happen."
In early July, he was seen in Barrie; later, he made his way through York Region. He was spotted running in the pouring rain on Highway 11, heading toward Newmarket, then in the Vaughan area and eventually, Toronto.
These days, in the photos people send her, he looks gaunt. She fears he is malnourished and sleep-deprived. More than once, she has been told, he’s come close to being run over by a car.
She and husband Lloyd worry about winter, fearing he will be found in a snowbank, frozen to death.
Multiple times, Bryenton approached a justice of the peace trying to get a Form 2, which, under the Mental Health Act, enables police to take a person who poses a danger to self or others to a hospital psychiatrist for assessment.
It was, she says, their only hope.
They were able to get this help twice. He was admitted to two separate Toronto hospitals, but each time, he was released after 72 hours by the in-patient psychiatrist, even though his PEI doctor offered to help with a medical transfer, she says.
Immediately after his recent release, he was seen sleeping in a TD Bank corridor 15 km from the hospital wearing the same tattered, hole-riddled clothing he's been wearing throughout this journey. She wonders how any doctor can think this is his choice.
"I’m going to be 73 in September and I never dreamed my retirement would include having my son homeless on the streets of Toronto ... but I am a mama bear ... I will never give up.
"Mind you, I have had several very critical remarks on Facebook, saying cruel, cruel things, criticizing me for ‘cyber stalking’. They figure I’m infringing on his privacy. They don’t understand mental illness. Unless you walk in our shoes, you just do not understand.”
It's a complicated issue, this balancing of a patient’s right to freedom with the right to receive involuntary medical treatment when the illness blocks it.
In part two of this series, we’ll look at what’s at stake and possible solutions.
Meantime, Marlene and Lloyd continue their battle to save their son, on social media and through lobbying for legislative change, because, as they have discovered, they are not alone. Many families have contacted to her saying they’ve been there, faced the same roadblocks.
“The mental health system is broken and there’s an extreme lack of support for loved ones,” she says. “It seems the rights of the mentally ill person overshadow anything else. We’re left in the dark, left to pick up the pieces.”
Going public isn’t easy, Bryenton says, but this is not just for her son; it's for all the lost souls on the streets.
She hopes to shine light on what it’s like to help a loved one with serious mental illness and, she hopes, “the next time people see a panhandler, they won’t look at them with disgust and disdain, but wonder, ‘what’s the background of this person? What happened to them?,’ and maybe, not just turn away.”
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Charlottetown CBC reporter, Jessica Doria-Brown, interviewed me recently
A Toronto Star reporter contacted me. I will hear from them soon.
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MARVIN ROSS BLOG
A blog was written by Marvin Ross entitled, WHY ONTARIO'S MENTAL HEALTH ACT IS DEFICIENT - THE TALE OF A HOMELESS MAN WHO SHOULDN'T BE HOMELESS. Here is the link: https://dawsonross.wordpress.com/
Marvin Ross has published a new blog August 28, 2023.
Mind You
Alzheimer’s, Schizophrenia and the Andrew Bryenton Saga _ Part 3
mross109
Aug 28, 2023
By Marvin Ross
Last week, after a herculean effort by his mother Marlene in Charlottetown and volunteers in Southern Ontario, Andrew was discharged back to living on the streets of Toronto after a 72 hour hold. Presumably, doctors did not feel that a former assistant bank manager diagnosed with a serious mental illness and living on the street required medical intervention. (See my two previous blogs for background).
Andrew is homeless again wandering the streets, sleeping where he can and accepting help with money, clothes, snacks and liquids from the kindness of strangers. He is but one of the thousands of homeless in our cities and towns across the country – many of whom suffer untreated mental illness and many of whose families do not know where they are. His mother is hoping that her numerous appeals to Ontario politicians will facilitate his medical transfer back to Prince Edward Island where his psychiatrist is waiting to help.
Supporters of Marlene have inundated Premier Ford with e-mails requesting help and a medical transfer to PEI. Ford's office responded to Marlene to say:
"Thanks for reaching out about your son Andrew and his current health situation. I'm sorry to hear about the difficult experiences and challenges you've had to overcome.
With that said, I do appreciate your insight on this matter and take your concerns seriously. I've forwarded your email to the Honourable Sylvia Jones, Minister of Health, for her information."
One of the organizers of the letter writing then was asked to stop the e-mails as they've had enough and if they continue, they will simply put an auto-reply on any further ones. I'm told they are working on a "plan" but nothing further has been heard and Ford's reply said he was going to notify the Minister of Health for her information. No mention of any resolution.
I will leave it to the readers to determine what all that means.
Sadly, a hospital discharging a mentally ill person back into the streets is not new. As Vancouver mother, Marilyn Baker wrote here:
“Seventeen days later, the phone rang again. It was three in the afternoon, so six Toronto time. Matthew was being abruptly discharged into a freezing February night in Toronto. He had no place to stay, no friends or family nearby, no money, no identification, no nothing. He had no means to cope with the freezing cold February night.”
In one of my earliest blogs for Huffington Post in 2011, I wrote “Who can explain why our society treats those with Alzheimer's disease medically while we increasingly treat those with schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses in jail?”
“Alzheimer's disease impacts the elderly while schizophrenia, which begins in late adolescence, initially impacts the young. Among the symptoms of Alzheimer's are delusions, paranoia and impulsive behaviour. Symptoms of schizophrenia include hallucinations, delusions, thought disorder and, in many cases, paranoia.”
There is no effective treatment for Alzheimer's but there is for schizophrenia. Schizophrenia was initially thought to be an early form of dementia hence the name dementia praecox or premature or precocious dementia.
The one symptom they have in common which I did not discuss before is wandering or running away. Both do and to prevent that, dementia wards are locked or people in the community are outfitted with GPS devices so they can be easily traced if they do wander off. When someone with dementia wanders off and is lost, no one suggests that it is their right to do so. Attempts are made to find them quickly and to take them home so they do not perish which, sadly, does happen.
Some people with active psychosis also have a tendency to run away to the streets because they are frightened, anxiety ridden or following the dictates of their hallucinations. The humane response is to find them and get them treatment and not let them live in their fear and anxiety while their mental state further deteriorates. Living on the streets is dangerous particularly in the winter in our cold climate. Our mental health laws need to be improved to accommodate these facts.
The Bryenton family is living through a needless hell while the medical system and the politicians ignore reality. It is time for them to step up!.
COMMENT made on the Blog: Dogs are treated far better here in Vancouver than many of the mentally ill who have been neglected & abandoned to our streets and alleys. Even injured pigeons get noticed & get medical attention – some people are remarkably kind.
Yet human beings with severe mental illness are barely noticed as they rummage through our dumpsters, or sit or sleep on the dangerous streets of Vancouver’s notorious Downtown Eastside (DTES) — where they’re called “bugs” and preyed upon by criminals & others with no conscience. Or are left to die long before their time in filthy, dilapidated DTES hotel rooms you wouldn’t put your dog in (see Hotel Study https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/.../appi.ajp.2013.12111439 )
I am sick of it – and of the politicians at every level of gov’t who wring their hands and say how terrible it is, but do nothing.
COMMENT: We need a culture change and willingness
As a community to be educated and focus
On changing the de-medicalization of mental
Illness. After being a psychiatric nurse for 33 years
and parent of someone diagnosed with
schizophrenia I feel at a loss .
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ANDREW'S ANGEL TEAM
I have a team of very gifted individuals who are guiding, encouraging and supporting me daily. The list is extensive.
In particular, I wish to thank Maureen Trask, Advocate for Missing Persons. Maureen's son, Daniel, went missing and unfortunately was discovered deceased. Maureen facilitates a Peer Support Group for Missing Persons. I am a member of that group. Maureen also successfully lobbied for the Ontario Missing Persons Act with the assistance of MPP Catherine Fife. Maureen has been working with me for five months providing guidance and assistance. I can't thank her enough for her kindness shown to our family.
Also, I wish to thank Kerry McLane, volunteer investigator with the PLEASE BRING ME HOME ORGANIZATION. Kerry helped search for Andrew in Ontario. In addition, Kerry suggested I start the PLEASE BRING ANDREW BRYENTON HOME TO P.E.I. PETITION.
A new gentleman has joined Andrew's Angels Team. He is the TWITTER KING. He has been sending Twitter messages. He reported the following: There have been 8992 Twitter views in one day on the Globe and Mail story.
I am a MAMA BEAR and I will protect our son! Furthermore, I WILL NEVER GIVE UP TRYING TO SAVE OUR SON'S LIFE!