An eye for science

Entertainment and
Dining Weekly Guide

North Shore Now: 21

60 pages

NEWS photo Cindy Goodman

OVER 100 students were involved in a science fair held last week at Seymour
Heights Elementary School. Ryan Yada (left) and Dave Mix were among the
grade seven students who participated in the learning experience - having a

little fun in the process.

Death spar

LGH examines procedures after
weekend death of patient

LIONS GATE Hospital administrators are reviewing pro-
cedures regarding ‘‘wandering patients’’ following the
weekend death of a disoriented Lions Gate Hospital pa-
tient who walked out of his room on Thursday and was
found dead Saturday in woods near the east end of
Calverhall Street in North Vancouver.

John Pringle. a 55-year-old
Squamish man, was recovering in
LGH after having undergone
neurological surgery before he
wandered away from the hospital.

According to Frank Baumann,

By Michael Becker
News Reporter

one of Pringie’s closest friends,
the operation left Pringle mentally

REACHING EVERY DO

confused.

Described by Baumann as a pi-
Oneering mountaineer and ‘‘a
brilliant chemist,’ Pringle had
worked 20 years at Canada’s
Chalk River nuclear research facil-
ities in Ontario and was in the

Byelection

4

process of writing a book about
corrosion in nuclear reactors when
his health failed.

Baumann Jast saw his friend
alive during a visit to the hospital
on Feb. 26.

“‘He was in good spirits and he
was coherent,’’ Baumann said.
“He was about 80 per cent
together. The prognosis was that
he would not go back to being the
genius that he was, but we were
hoping that he would eventually
be able to look after himself.”*

Baumann believes Pringle would
sill be alive if the North Van-
couver RCMP had contacted the
Narth Shore Rescue Team (NSRT)
after being advised by Lions Gate
Hospital staff Thursday afternoon
that a ‘‘compromised’’ patient

had disappeared from a hospital
ward.

Baumann alerted NSRT coor-
dinator Ross Peterson at 9 a.m.
on Friday after learning from the
hospital that Pringle had not been
located.

But North Vancouver RCMP
{nsp. Dave Roseberry said police
do not automatically call in the
NSRT when a patient is reported
missing from LGH.

“We basically search the im-
mediate area, we ask the hospital
to search, we do our patrols to
places they normally wander to,
like bridges, unfortunately, and
we put out alerts,’’ Roseberry
said.

He added the police department

See Electronic page &