THE PLIGHT OF SENIORS
A security guard gives a delivery truck driver instructions at the Centre d’hebergement de Sainte-dorothée on Tuesday. The coronavirus crisis seems to be disproportionately hitting seniors’ residences and staff are often overwhelmed,
Eight people have died of COVID-19 at a long-term care facility in Verdun and another 28 people are infected with the virus, health authorities said Tuesday.
The deaths occurred at Manoir Verdun, said Jean Nicolas Aubé, a spokesperson for the Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux du Centre-sudde-l’île-de-montréal. He would not specify when the deaths occurred, but said they were recorded since the beginning of the outbreak.
The news came a day after reports emerged that the Centre d’hébergement Sainte-dorothée in Laval had 105 of its 174 residents test positive for the virus. On Tuesday, Laval health authorities reported that eight people had died of the virus at that residence.
The virus seems to be disproportionately hitting seniors’ homes. Of the 150 deaths reported in the province on Tuesday, 44.7 per cent were at long-term care centres, 20 per cent at seniors’ residences, 26.7 per cent at home and the rest were unknown.
The situation is worrying for Tammy Hamilton, whose 84-yearold mother, Anna Dubé, lives at Manoir Verdun. Hamilton said before the outbreak began, her mother was moved out of her room, along with all other second-floor residents of the 12-floor establishment, in order to keep that floor vacant to house infected patients.
However, the move has cut off communication between Hamilton and her mother because she no longer has access to a landline telephone, nor does she have her television or refrigerator. When the family tried to bring her a mobile phone, staff would not allow the device to be delivered.
Hamilton said she has had spotty communication with her mother, with whom she is used to speaking at least once a day, but she was able to speak to a staff member a few days ago who reported that her mother tested negative for the virus. Hamilton was made aware that there was an outbreak, but didn’t know until being informed by a reporter on Tuesday how extensive it was.
Hamilton said her mother is now located along with other residents of the second floor in the building ’s common room, which is used for bingo games and other social events. The beds are separated by curtains and Hamilton worries that if one resident is infected, the virus will spread rapidly.
She figures her mother was safer in her own private room.
Aubé explained that in Verdun, like most other long-term care centres, the second floor was turned into a “hot zone” to house patients who are infected or are suspected of being infected with the virus, in order to limit the spread.
“These are temporary decisions that were taken to protect patients and employees and to reduce the risk of spreading (the virus),”
Aubé said. “These are exceptional measures and we’re in a situation that necessitates exceptional measures. When the measures are no longer needed, they will all be moved back to their rooms.”
Aubé added that staff are aware it’s difficult for the residents who were moved to contact their families and, in this case, the residence purchased ipads in order to allow residents to Facetime with their families. The residence also brought more telephones into the common area to help ease communication. However, with 220 people in the residence, they are limited as to how much time they get with the ipads.
Hamilton said the situation has been very difficult for her mother, who suffers from kidney failure.
“She’s lonely; she’s scared,” Hamilton said. “She doesn’t know what’s going on. I’m the one who told her of the test results. They’re not giving her any explanation. She’s just lost and confused.”
In his daily briefing on Tuesday, Premier François Legault said COVID -19 has spread in long-term care and seniors’ residences partly because part-time employees work in several different centres. They are also understaffed.
Alain Croteau, president of the union representing orderlies for the CIUSSS du Centre-sudde-l’île-de-montréal, said those working inside government-run long-term care centres have been pushed into a difficult situation with little guidance and ever-changing directives.
“They’re victims of circumstance,” Croteau said, “and no matter what’s going to happen, they’re going to need to go to work and face this pandemic head-on.”
Croteau said he didn’t want to be overly critical in the middle of a major health crisis. But he said he hopes the Quebec government will look long and hard at the state of its seniors’ residences afterward.
“Once we can do a post-mortem on this we’ll need to look at the way things are done,” Croteau said. “I hope there will be more awareness about the importance of the work these people do and the real work conditions we ask them to live through.”
In Laval, where three of the five government-run long-term care centres were facing outbreaks, the union representing health-care workers pointed a finger at health authorities for mismanaging the situation.
Marjolaine Aubé, president of the Syndicat des travailleuses et des travailleurs du CISSS de Laval, said an investigation conducted by the union has revealed that on the week of March 22, two health-care workers reported to their supervisors that they had mild symptoms of the virus.
She said managers allowed them to continue to work and didn’t test them for a week, which allowed the virus to spread.
“We think there may be as many as eight deaths, but they haven’t communicated with us,” Aubé said. “I think they are trying to hide this from the public.”