A 55-year-old Lethbridge, Alta., man who was missing in a hospital for three days last summer is no longer able to live independently and has moved to a nursing home.

Wesley Stanko, who has a brain injury and walks with a shuffle, was admitted to the Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge last August after suffering a fall. He wandered away from his hospital room and vanished. Three days later, he was found trapped in a hospital mechanical room.

Rose Stanko, 81, visits her son's house almost every day but Stanko hasn't been there in six months.

There's still a basket of laundry on the bed and a pair of loafers kicked off by the couch.

"It's empty. I can't come in here and feel at home. I don't know what to do," Rose Stanko said. "I wish if I could scream it would go away.".

Wesley Stanko's health had been declining but he was able to live independently prior to his fall and the ordeal in the hospital, said his brother Doug Stanko.

"He's usually in a wheelchair and he just sits in an Alzheimer's ward because that's a safety ward because they've got their concerns about him leaving some place," said Doug Stanko.

"When you see him it's not a very pretty sight. It's hard for a 55-year-old in a place with much older people," he said.

While his brother was missing, Doug Stanko said he struggled to convince hospital staff that his brother was not simply visiting friends.

Reviewed search procedures

Police and staff searched for Wesley Stanko from the time he was lost until he was found, said Penny Knawsny, a Chinook hospital spokesperson. She said what happened was difficult and the hospital has since changed the way it searches for patients.

"We use this as an opportunity to improve and we're forever doing that within the environment that we work in," she said.

The hospital has since reviewed its search procedures and has improved communication with police.

Rose Stanko asks what those changes can do for her son, now that he's in a nursing home.

"I just feel bad that it had to happen to him," she said.