The death of an ill senior who lived inside a 24-hour Tim Hortons is drawing new attention to Vancouver’s housing crisis and raising questions about health supports for homeless people.
Friends say the man in his 70s — who they knew only as Ted — was a nice guy who slept, ate and spent practically all his time inside the coffee shop on West Broadway.
John Bingham sleeps outside the Tim Hortons and says Ted had cancer and appeared to be hallucinating about 12 hours before paramedics arrived on May 31.
Homeless advocate Judy Graves says she also knew Ted and he was a retired worker on a government pension who couldn’t afford housing and fell between the cracks of the health-care system.
Tim Hortons says its staff became concerned about the man’s health on May 31 and called 911, adding he was a regular and will be missed.
British Columbia Emergency Health Services says paramedics responded to a cardiac arrest and transported a man in critical condition to the hospital.
The Canadian Press
