Let your light shine for Jevon
Nova Scotia health system neglected my son and he died from that neglect
Editor’s note:
This article is part of an ongoing series contributed by family members who seek changes to Nova Scotia’s mental health and addictions system and are advocating for a greater voice for the loved ones of patients who are too ill to make informed decisions.
LOUANN LINK
Jevon arrived in our lives on Feb. 12, 1994, at 11:30 a.m. He was a loving and active boy, playing ball, hockey, soccer and golf. He was always outgoing and made lots of friends.
Jevon was a very picky eater, but we never had to worry about him.
He graduated from high school but never wanted to put a lot of effort into schoolwork. He had so many interests outside school. After high school he took the human services course at NSCC but ended up working in the lobster plant for a few years before taking up lobster fishing with his father, David. He played golf in the summer and soon excelled at that.
Jevon loved music and dancing; when I hear a song I think he may have liked, it brings unbearable grief.
I miss Jevon so much, and I miss the person I was before losing him.
The guilt you are left with when you lose a child to suicide is indescribable and a life sentence.
SIGNS OF PARANOIA
In December 2020, Jevon showed signs of a mental health crisis. On Dec. 20, I took him to outpatients, where he was released. Three days later, his condition was worsening. Jevon’s friends talked him into going back to outpatients, so they went with him and insisted that he needed to be treated. He was admitted for less than 24 hours.
I begged that they keep him but the person he named as his contact — whom he had not seen in 10 years — was the only one they were talking to. They prescribed two medications and released him to an empty house.
Jevon was not in sound mental health. It was like he was psychotic.
I have worked as a nurse for 39 years. I cannot figure out how they could release him in the state he was in. As a parent I had no say, but I had to worry about him alone in the house, showing signs of paranoia.
MISSED APPOINTMENTS
I made an appointment for him with our family physician and he was given a telephone appointment on Feb. 12, 2021. I told them he needed to see him in person, but my concerns were ignored. Jevon missed the appointment. I tried to get him another one and they said I had to pay $50 first for the missed appointment.
I later found out that the hospital hadn’t sent anything to the family doctor regarding his admission in December.
Over the next few months, Jevon started doing better so an appointment was made for June, after lobster season was done. When Jevon arrived, the door at the doctor’s office was locked due to COVID-19 restrictions and Jevon didn’t see the sign directing patients to call to be let in for appointments. When you are in a mental health crisis, you sometimes don’t notice signs. To my knowledge, Jevon was not called to see why he never arrived for his appointment.
By mid-july, Jevon’s mental health started to decline. He was not playing golf and not coming to supper when invited. On July 26, I called the psychiatrist regarding his mental health spiralling out of control. The psychiatrist gave him an appointment two weeks later. He had yet to be properly diagnosed.
On Aug. 1, 2021, I asked David to call Jevon and ask him to come to dinner. Jevon said he didn’t feel like it, but we didn’t notice anything worse in his voice. Two hours later, we took dinner to him and found he had died.
LOST OPPORTUNITY
The health system neglected my son, and he died from neglect.
We have been open about what happened to Jevon because we don’t want this to happen to other families, yet we know it continues to happen every day.
The guilt you are left with when you lose a child to suicide is indescribable and a life sentence. I started the Let Your Light Shine Jevon Link Society to help break stigma and support families who can’t get help from our public system. I have also become
a Safetalk facilitator to help other people recognize the signs of suicide.
I am not ashamed of what Jevon did; in his very ill state of mind, he did the only thing he felt could to end his suffering. I am ashamed that our health-care system failed Jevon and his family in so many ways.
If they had told us that Nova Scotia health care was not available during 2021, we would have looked for private health care.
In life we accumulate things we hold on to but there is nothing more important than your children. To be denied the opportunity to protect and save your child is horrific and cruel.