Zachary is the reason for COAST
Murder of boy by neighbour with schizophrenia in 1997 led to new way to assist mentally ill
More than 20 years ago, Terry McGurk shook the small hand of a boy with golden hair.
The encounter would inspire a collaboration in Hamilton that profoundly changed the way we care for some of our most vulnerable and sometimes volatile citizens. It would become the foundation for a program that is studied and modelled around the world. It would be something positive to come out of an unthinkable tragedy.
McGurk, with a background in nursing, was working at the Hamilton Program for Schizophrenia. The boy was the toddler of a young psychologist doing her internship there.
The child’s name was Zachary Antidormi.
On March 27, 1997, while Zachary was being pulled in a wagon by another child, he was stabbed to death by the woman who lived next door.
The neighbour had schizophrenia and a history of aggressive and erratic behaviour. Zachary’s parents had
called police about her more than a dozen times in the two years since Zachary was born.
But there were gaps in the system. Enormous, deadly gaps.
On Tuesday, in an auditorium at St. Joseph’s Healthcare, there was a moment of silence for Zachary. After, his photo filled a large screen.
McGurk choked back tears. Zachary’s mom, Lori Triano-Antidormi, gazed at her beautiful boy. The crowd of police officers, doctors, lawyers, social workers and mental-health professionals filling the room paused. Zachary is the reason they were here. Zachary is the reason the Crisis Outreach and Support Team — COAST — was created 20 years ago.
The program was in its planning stages when Zachary was murdered. It didn’t even have a name yet.
With a nod to a similar program in Vancouver, COAST launched seven months after Zachary’s death. It teamed up specially trained plainclothes Hamilton police officers with St. Joe’s mental-health workers. They drove an unmarked car and responded to the homes of people in crisis, defusing the immediate problem and then connecting with resources for a long-term solution.
Zachary’s killer was found not criminally responsible for his murder. When a coroner’s inquest was held, McGurk — by now co-ordinator of the newly formed COAST program — testified. He laid out ways in which the mental-health and justice systems had failed Zachary. And he talked about how the COAST system was changing that.
Triano-Antidormi, speaking at COAST’s anniversary celebration this week, said she and her husband felt frustrated by the response of police officers to their “clearly delusional” neighbour.
Officers would come, listen, maybe write a report, then leave.
“We felt very unsupported and unprotected,” she said.
Each officer who came to their home knew nothing about all the previous calls. They had a poor understanding of the Mental Health Act and hesitated to bring anyone with psychiatric issues to the ER because of the long waits and likelihood they would just be released anyway. Plus, said Triano-Antidormi, officers feared they would be judged by hospital staff for arresting someone with mentalhealth issues.
COAST changed the way records were kept by police. Officers were trained in the Mental Health Act. There was better communication and collaboration between police and the hospitals.
If COAST existed when Zachary was alive, it would have been aware of the neighbour’s history and could have helped to apprehend her and get her into treatment.
“Terry McGurk knew my Zachary personally,” said Triano-Antidormi, a psychologist who specializes in grief and trauma counselling, particularly for those who have been impacted by violent crime. “Terry met him and shook his little hand. Terry’s passion, compassion and dedication has not wavered in 20 years. Because of these efforts, Zachary’s death has not been in vain and people in crisis are being better served.”
McGurk, who tried once before to retire from COAST but came back within months, is planning to leave for good in March. He has done hundreds of public presentations about COAST. And each time, he begins by showing a photo of little golden-haired Zachary.