A community living residence operated by a non-profit disability services provider in central Alberta serves 8 adults with developmental disabilities in a home-like environment. The residence operates with 24-hour staffing, typically with 1 or 2 support workers on shift depending on the time of day. A 29-year-old support worker employed at the residence for 3 years arrived for a routine evening shift and, approximately 90 minutes into her shift, discovered a 52-year-old male resident unresponsive in his bedroom. The resident had lived at the facility for 7 years and was known to have complex medical needs including a seizure disorder.

The support worker immediately initiated CPR and called emergency services. Paramedics arrived within 12 minutes but were unable to resuscitate the resident, who was pronounced dead at the scene. The support worker had performed chest compressions for the entire interval before paramedics took over, and she was present when the attending paramedic formally called the time of death. A relief worker arrived shortly after emergency services, having been contacted by the on-call supervisor when the crisis began. The support worker who discovered the body remained at the residence for approximately 3 hours after the death, speaking with paramedics, police conducting a routine sudden death investigation, and her supervisor, who attended in person within 45 minutes of being notified.

In the days following the incident, questions arose regarding the support worker's state and her capacity to return to her role. She had not slept the night following the death and reported intrusive thoughts about the resuscitation attempt. Her supervisor noted that during their initial conversation at the scene, the worker repeatedly questioned whether she had responded quickly enough and whether different actions might have changed the outcome. The organization's executive director, responding to pressure from the resident's family and the board of directors, began asking pointed questions about the worker's conduct that evening—specifically, where she had been in the residence in the 30 minutes before discovering the resident, and whether required wellness checks had been completed on schedule.

The employer now faces multiple simultaneous obligations: supporting a worker who has experienced a potentially traumatic event, meeting notification and investigation requirements under provincial legislation, facilitating access to workers' compensation for psychological injury, and determining whether any performance or conduct issues require examination—all while the worker remains technically employed but has not yet returned to active duty. The human resources manager must navigate these intersecting obligations in a compressed timeframe, with regulatory deadlines approaching and the worker's wellbeing uncertain.