Quebec promises more communication with families
Deny overlooking centres where half virus victims lived
Pina Mancuso speaks to her 95-year-old mother daily, so she was surprised that she had to learn in the media of a major outbreak in the Manoir Verdun where she lives.
On Wednesday, the Montreal Gazette reported that eight people had died and another 28 were infected with the novel coronavirus at the facility. Mancuso’s mother speaks only Italian and, as no staff at the centre speak the language, she was unaware there had been an outbreak.
“I was really astonished to read about this,” Mancuso said. “I understood last week they gave instructions for people not to leave their rooms, but I figured it was a precaution because someone wasn’t feeling well. I hadn’t heard anything about this.”
Mancuso has echoed the complaint of many children with parents in long-term care facilities, that communication between healthcare workers and the families of patients has been sorely lacking.
In the past week, outbreaks at several facilities in the region have become more severe — those housed there make up about half of all deaths in the province due to the virus.
In Laval, the hardest-hit centres are the CHSLD Ste-dorothée, where 19 died and 115 are infected, and the CHSLD La Pinière, where 10 died and 26 were infected as of Friday afternoon.
Official numbers in Montreal have not been updated since Wednesday, but the CHSLD Lasalle had 20 deaths and 54 suspected cases, according to an internal government document that circulated on Thursday. Across the street, the long-term care unit at Lasalle Hospital has reported 14 deaths, 25 confirmed cases and 77 suspected ones. The Donald Berman Jewish Eldercare Centre had one death and 31 infections as of Wednesday.
Montreal’s public health department reported Friday there have been 100 deaths recorded in 40 long-term care facilities, out of a total of 294 on the island.
At the private Résidence Herron in Dorval, two people have died of the virus and 18 others have also died, but the circumstances surrounding their deaths is unclear, Health Minister Danielle Mccann said Friday. An investigation has been ordered and the province has taken over management of that residence. The government has also taken over the operations of another private long-term care facility in Lévis, near Quebec City.
Facing criticism it has underestimated how badly long-term care centres would be hit, Mccann appointed geriatrics specialist Quoc Dinh Nguyen as a special councillor to the government to put in place measures to improve the situation for seniors.
Mccann also announced this week that more doctors and nurses are being sent to long-term care centres to help with understaffing. She added that one of the top priorities is to improve communication.
“We have given the directive to the whole network of the residences in Quebec that the priority is to inform the families,” Mccann said. “Everybody has a priority to inform the families. This is absolutely basic.”
However, that communication has been sorely lacking. Mancuso said it’s very difficult to speak to anyone who works on her mother’s floor.
“That’s been an ongoing issue, but now, it’s worse,” she said. “My mother says she hardly sees anybody. She’s very much in the dark, and so are we, for that matter.”
Mancuso blamed the province, saying it left seniors’ centres vulnerable by not shutting down visits earlier, and by leaving them shortstaffed.
“They were so busy preparing the hospitals that they forgot all about the seniors’ residences, and they were the prime people to be susceptible to this virus,” she said. “My mother isn’t the only one. All those people there have issues, so if something is spread, their bodies are not strong enough.”
On Friday, Quebec Premier François Legault announced that all healthcare workers at longterm care centres are being tested. New transfers to long-term care centres from hospitals had stopped as of Friday.
The government defended its handling of the crisis, saying the long-term centres had not been left out.
“We knew that seniors would be the most vulnerable, and that’s why we took so many measures, but we had problems because of the spring break week when there were lots of trips taken,” Mccann said.
In a statement Friday afternoon, the Fédération de la santé et des services sociaux, which represents healthcare workers, demanded the government step up measures to protect those giving care at the long-term facilities.
“Currently, there is a lack of protective equipment and the equipment that is available (is inadequate),” the union said in a statement.
Marguerite Blais, the minister for seniors, had said last month she was self-isolating to set an example. However, when asked why she broke her own order by travelling from Montreal to Quebec City to meet Dr. Nguyen and participate in the news conference, Blais said it was an “exceptional” trip.