Keen-eyed Eastern Health staffer first to flag imposter nurse, says regulator | 24CA News
A keen-eyed staffer at Eastern Health was the primary employer to flag an unlicensed nurse who labored at numerous well being services in Newfoundland and Labrador for almost two years, says the particular person in control of the school that regulates LPNs within the province.
“They, in their due diligence, identified that Lisa Driscoll was not licensed with us. She was not on our database, and they called us to inquire,” Wanda Wadman, CEO and registrar of the NL College of Licensed Practical Nurses, informed 24CA News.
That name final summer time touched off an investigation by the school that ultimately linked “Lisa Driscoll” to a few personal nursing properties in St. John’s — Chancellor Park, Kenny’s Pond and Lanes — the place she labored for various occasions as an LPN.
“So thankfully Eastern Health did that and identified that to us, and then we were able to identify her name to three other employers where we believed that she had been working,” mentioned Wadman.
Used licence variety of nurse with related title
The lady, whose authorized title is Lisa Marie Strickland, hung out in an Ontario jail after pleading responsible to prison negligence inflicting loss of life in relation to the loss of life in September 2017 of her four-year-old son Kane Driscoll. The boy died from a deadly dose of a narcotic that was prescribed to his mom. The lady labored for years as a sensible nurse in Hamilton, however her licence was suspended following her interactions with the courts.
After leaving jail in early 2021, she returned to Newfoundland and used the licence variety of a nurse with the same title — information that’s publicly obtainable on the regulator’s web site — to efficiently apply for work on the personal nursing properties and was not uncovered till she utilized to Eastern Health.
Wadman blamed the employers who allowed the lady to slide via the cracks.
“Employers are ultimately responsible for who they hire,” she mentioned, including that it’s important for employers to completely display the identities and credentials of potential workers. The most elementary step is to match the knowledge on an individual’s government-issued identification, resembling a driver’s licence, with the knowledge on the school’s web site.
“If their name does not match the name on our website, no matter what types of excuses or things the individual may say, it still falls to the employer to call the regulator to verify and clarify that information,” mentioned Wadman.
No one harmed
Both Chancellor Park and Kenny’s Pond confirmed in statements to CBC News that they parted firm with the lady final summer time after being alerted by the school of LPNs that she was not a licensed practitioner. Both say nobody was harmed in the course of the lady’s time on the nursing properties.
No one at both of the personal-care properties have been obtainable for an interview about how the lady evaded detection in the course of the screening course of, however Chancellor Park mentioned in a press release, “We are confident that we have augmented our procedures to ensure this does not happen again.”
Attempts to substantiate the lady’s hyperlinks to Lanes Retirement Living have been unsuccessful.
Roots in Bonavista
Details have been slowly trickling out concerning the behaviour of the 43-year-old lady with roots in Bonavista for the reason that story broke on the finish of 2022.
She’s identified to the courts as Lisa Marie Strickland, however has additionally been recognized as Lisa Driscoll and Michelle Driscoll. The most up-to-date allegations in opposition to her — that she used the licence numbers of different licensed nurses with names just like hers to get jobs as each an RN and LPN — haven’t been confirmed in court docket, and each the RCMP and RNC have launched separate investigations.
The story broke on Dec. 21 when Central Health introduced a lady named Lisa Driscoll had been impersonating a registered nurse — a health-care supplier with a broader scope of follow than an LPN, and a job the lady was by no means educated for — at Lakeside Homes’ long-term care facility in Gander.
Central Health revealed the lady was employed by a personal company known as Staffing Solutions Inc. and was assigned to Lakeside, the place she labored greater than two dozen shifts between August and November of final 12 months.
Her time in Gander got here after she was uncovered by Eastern Health and the College of LPNs, and after the school of LPNs despatched a registered letter to the lady, asking her to cease impersonating a nurse. The lady signed for the letter at her then St. John’s residence.
24CA News has confirmed that “Lisa Driscoll” is Lisa Marie Strickland, who was sentenced to 2½ years in jail in January 2021 by an Ontario decide however served minimal time after sentencing due to her prolonged pre-sentence custody.
During the investigation into her son’s loss of life, court docket paperwork present the lady as soon as once more grew to become pregnant, and police in Hamilton, involved concerning the unborn kid’s security, requested space hospitals to alert them as soon as she gave delivery so the kid may very well be taken into custody.
Based on media reviews and court docket paperwork, the lady moved to Newfoundland in late 2018. It’s not clear whether or not the infant was born in Ontario or Newfoundland, or what grew to become of the kid.
However, in early 2019, police arrested the lady in Bonavista and returned her to Hamilton, the place she was initially charged with manslaughter. The cost was later diminished, with the lady pleading responsible to prison negligence inflicting the loss of life of Kane Driscoll.
“There was no reason that child should have that narcotic,” mentioned Det.-Sgt. Peter Thom of the Hamilton Police Service at a news convention in February 2019.
