Jackson police: 88-year-old man dies after walking out of assisted living facility

JACKSON (WITI) -- Jackson police are investigating the death of an 88-year-old man who walked out of a community-based assisted living facility on Sunday night, March 1st.

According to police, staff at Ivy Manor started searching for the man around 7:20 p.m. when they realized he was missing. They found him unconscious at 8:37 p.m. a little more than 100 feet from the front door. They immediately called 911. When Jackson police arrived on scene, they administered CPR and their external defibrillator delivered one shock. EMTs from the Jackson and West Bend Fire Departments then arrived. The man was eventually transported to St. Joseph's Hospital; he was pronounced dead at 10:49 p.m. An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday.

State records indicate the victim in this case suffered from dementia.

A former employee of Ivy Manor spoke with FOX6 News on condition of anonymity. She claims more safety measures could have been taken to keep him safe.

"They should have had an alarm on the  door where he would wear a bracelet and he would get probably 10 feet from the door, the alarm would go off. And to notify us if he would get close to the door so we could go. They never put him on that," said the former employee.

According to documents from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Ivy Manor recently received two citations related to the patient in this story. It was documented that he liked to walk outdoors and would actively try to get out of the building. Documents show he left without supervision on two occasions -- one in August and more recently in January. He was found wandering around.

When the state investigated, it asked if supervised walks were a part of his activity plan. The facility said it had not thought of that. The facility acknowledged the violations -- and said it made safety adjustments a week-and-a-half ago.

Ivy Manor says it increase the patient's supervision and monitoring. But records show the facility did not create a leisure time plan for him to be outside -- or other activities when he could not go outdoors. The state documents also showed that in December and January, the resident went outside only three times per month.

The assistant administrator for Ivy Manor told FOX6 News there would be no comment on this case until a full internal investigation is complete.