Alberta family grieves loved one who died at a Calgary shelter

Every greeting connected her thrust to enactment successful the bosom of Calgary, Dominika Rozlowski scours the streets and underpasses, vessel depots and agelong lines extracurricular shelters — trying to spot a acquainted look successful a assemblage of people: the look of her sister.

“I conscionable kept looking, mundane I thought of her,” Rozlowski said.

It’s been a decennary since the Airdrie nonmigratory past saw her sister Joanna.

Rozlowski clenches a representation of the 50-year-old  mother-of-three successful her hands. Joanna is beautiful, with a beaming grin and agleam blonde hair.

The joyousness successful that picture, however, was overshadowed by an insurmountable conflict with intelligence unwellness and addiction that led Joanna to a years-long beingness connected the streets.

“Hospitals, we tried to get a intelligence wellness order, we tried to instrumentality her home, I tried to support her successful astatine my spot — we were conscionable truthful exhausted that yet we conscionable had to fto her spell and marque bid with it,” Rozlowski said.

Two weeks ago, she got the telephone she had ever feared.

“She was unresponsive and past they took her to the Alpha House and they gave her a mat connected the floor, each they tin bash is breathing checks due to the fact that they are volunteers and by the morning, 8 a.m., she was gone,” Rozlowski said.

She said the household was notified astir Joanna’s decease 2 days later, aft an autopsy was done and she was fingerprinted. Rozlowski is wondering wherefore her sister wasn’t taken to the hospital.

“She had much lice connected her caput than hairsbreadth and they were each implicit her body, she had sores connected her — it’s conscionable not humane,” she said.

“It’s astir apt the worst mode a quality tin die, successful symptom and alone. So yea it was hard, I didn’t lavation my hairsbreadth for a fewer days oregon eat, due to the fact that she couldn’t,” Rozlowski said with dense tears rolling down her face.

She was reunited with her sister’s remains a week later.

She held her manus done a assemblage container arsenic unneurotic they began the agelong travel backmost to their puerility location successful Grande Prairie — backmost to their awaiting parent Maria, to springiness Joanna a dignified farewell.

“I ever told radical astir my girl Joanna,” Maria from her location successful Grande Prairie.

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Joanna’s children, present grown, besides got to spot their ma and accidental goodbye.

“I person conscionable been having a truly hard clip accepting the information I won’t spot my ma again,” said Abbey Van-Heuvel.

Joanna was laid to remainder successful a marque caller dress, with a achromatic roseate and a representation of the grandchild she ne'er got to conscionable tucked successful her hand.

” You couldn’t person recovered a amended mom, a amended wife, that is however she was before,” said Joanna’s erstwhile sister-in-law Karen Van-Heuval.

In a connection to Global News, Alpha House said Joanna was known to them for immoderate clip and unit are devastated by her passing.

It went connected to read, “The decease of an unhoused idiosyncratic often feels peculiarly tragic and forces america each arsenic a community, up against the question of whether we are doing capable to enactment our astir vulnerable.”

Joanna’s communicative unluckily is not unique, nor is it rare.

“Last twelvemonth astatine the stateless memorial, we heard that astir doubly arsenic galore had passed away, 400 individuals,” said Chaz Smith , laminitis of BeTheChangeYYC.

“It’s conscionable an overwhelmed strategy wherever truthful galore radical are trying to entree services with precise constricted resources,” helium added.

Dominika wishes she could person seen her sister alive, adjacent conscionable for a infinitesimal 1 past time. But she said she is successful peace, knowing Joanna’s symptom is yet over.

“I deliberation that God conscionable said she suffered capable and took her home.”

She said she volition proceed to spot her sister’s look successful the faces of others inactive retired there, trying to find their ain mode home.