Two men die at local group home

Coroner's report shows they died of heat stroke

Two men are dead from heat stroke and police are investigating if a caregiver is to blame.

Last week, authorities were called out to Angel Arms group home on Bow Street. Pamela Shay is a caregiver for Angel Arms. She took us in the room where 79-year-old John Jones and 47-year-old Thomas Calhoun were found.

She found the residents. "John was unresponsive and was laying half off the bed. I had Tim sit them up on the floor. I thought they had low blood sugar and he was unresponsive."

Police say an initial coroner's report says the mentally ill men died from heat stroke. They are investigating if Shay neglected the men.

An employee gave police this statement. "We've been told at this point they had checked on them an hour, hour and a half prior, just by sound. That they had heard snoring, as it was put, in the room."

Detectives say the temperature in the bedroom was more than 90 degrees, there was no fan in the room, and the window was propped up with a screen. Shay claims there was a fan on the dresser.

She says the men suffered from schizophrenia and sometimes wore sweaters in the house. "They never complained about the heat and I know about the medication and how that can affect you but I had Tom here. This was his second summer and I never had problems with him."

Shay says she treated the men like family. "I took care of everyone in my group home and I loved them and cared about them."

Angel Arms is a licensed group home. The director of the long-term care ombudsman program says they've received seven complaints about the group home. She questions the owners' ability to care for the residents. "When people are on ...psychotropic medication that they are much more susceptible to the heat so they need to be aware and someone is a caregiver needs to make sure they bring they appropriate amount of fluids in a high temp situation."

Shay says, "No, I'm not a murderer. Something happened and I can't do anything about it."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says heat causes about 400 deaths a year in the U.S., more than all other natural causes combined. People suffer heat-related illness when their bodies can't properly cool themselves, which they usually do by sweating. But when the humidity is high, sweat won't evaporate as quickly. Other risk factors include age, obesity, heart disease, and sunburn.

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