Bogalusa, La. (WVUE) - A Bogalusa family wants change after their loved one, a 79-year-old man with dementia and Alzheimer’s, wandered from a behavioral hospital and was found dead on Father’s Day.
The family sat down with Fox 8 for an exclusive on-camera interview as they hope to turn their grief into reform.
When Jeff Dickens remembers his dad, he thinks of Huey Kennedy, the hard working, sometimes stubborn man who would give anything to his family.
But now his memory is clouded in tragedy.
Kennedy went to the Oceans Behavioral Hospital in Hammond for a medication adjustment before moving to an assisted living apartment.
Before his discharge, Kennedy wandered from the facility through an unlocked door.
“You know that trust was broken right there by them because we knew we couldn’t do it and we didn’t want anything to happen to him,” said Misty Dickens, the man’s daughter-in-law.
Jeff Dickens says surveillance footage shows his dad leaving just after 6 p.m., but it wasn’t until medication rounds at 7 p.m. that Dickens says the staff noticed he was gone.
He says police were called nearly 90 minutes later, and Kennedy’s wife was notified at 9:30 Saturday night.
Dickens said he was there to look for his dad an hour after that.
“Were they not trained? Did they not exist?” he asked.
Kennedy was found dead about a half mile away nearly 25 hours after he went missing.
“Why isn’t there alarms on the doors? Why isn’t there a security guard watching the cameras?” Jeff Dickens continued. “These are things you can buy at the local Walmart or BestBuy for $200 that will alert you every time someone goes through your door.”
The Oceans Healthcare system has 26 facilities listed in Louisiana.
The Dickens Family says they trusted the staff to take care of their relative when it grew beyond their capability.
“There were a couple of times that he thought he had to go to work, and he’d get up and say he had to go to work, and he took off walking. But the thing here is his wife was able to call me and tell me Huey took off walking,” said Misty Dickens. “I was immediately able to look for him and find him. If we knew immediately, we could have been there. But they didn’t know immediately and that’s a problem.”
Jeff Dickens remembers the droves of search party volunteers that came out to help, but says the Oceans staff was not prominent in that help.
Huey Kennedy isn’t the only relative that went to the Oceans Behavioral Hospital.
Misty Dickens sent her grandmother there for the medication adjustment program. She says they had concerns then, too.
“She was able to get out, but at one point she was really, really upset and wanted to leave,” said Misty Dickens. “She said things like she didn’t like the way things were going and she didn’t like how she was being treated, and it’s very concerning. We were very concerned.”
When met with a dark day, Jeff and Misty Dickens say they were grateful to call Southern Louisiana home.
When I went down to Hammond, there were so many people showing up that didn’t have to be there. They were fathers, mothers, brothers. It was Father’s Day, and they spent their time helping me find my father in extreme heat and humidity,” said Jeff Dickens. “It was a tough day but there’s a culture of care in Louisiana that makes me proud to be a Louisianian.”
A representative for Oceans Behavioral Hospital responded to Fox 8′s request for additional comment on the incident.
We continue to extend our sympathies to Mr. Kennedy’s family. As a team of caregivers dedicated to serving our community, we’re heartbroken by his death.
We are committed to caring for our patients and maintaining a safe, healing environment. We have conducted an internal investigation, reviewing all elopement and patient observation protocols. Beginning last weekend, all staff were retrained on those protocols.
In compliance with patient privacy laws, we are unable to share any additional details at this time.
Funeral arrangements for Huey Kennedy are Monday, June 26, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Poole-Ritchie Funeral Home in Bogalusa.
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