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A NURSING HOME in Montreal has become a symbol of the terrible toll Covid-19 is taking in Canada’s long-term care homes after residents were left soiled and unfed after their caregivers fled the premises following 31 deaths in the space of a few weeks.
The bleak situation discovered at the Residence Herron, in the Montreal suburb of Dorval, has triggered an investigation for gross negligence and a national reckoning among Canadians about the conditions in long-term care homes which account for half the country’s more than 1,250 Covid-19 deaths.
“I was sick to my stomach, I was really sick to my stomach,” said Moira Davis, whose father Stanley Pinnell died at the Herron facility on 8 April.
“All of a sudden these questions started flying through my head, ‘What could we have done differently? Why did nobody tell us?… Why, why, why?’”
Called to the rescue after most of the staff deserted the facility, health authorities found residents dehydrated, unfed for days and lying listless in bed, some covered in excrement. Others had fallen to the floor. Two deaths had gone unnoticed for several days.
At least five of the 31 recent deaths at the home have been officially attributed to the virus, with the others still being investigated by a coroner.
From her home in Creighton, Saskatchewan, Davis said she became concerned about her 96-year-old father, who is believed to have contracted coronavirus a week before his death, as he sounded weaker and weaker on the phone each time they spoke.
She said Residence Herron was not unique. ”There are other homes, I am sure, in every country of the world, where families have experienced a similar situation.
“It scares me, it terrifies me to think that I am 60 years of age, and I may someday end up in one of these homes.”
Announcing the fatalities this week, Quebec Premier Francois Legault said it appeared to be a case of “gross negligence” with just two nurses had been left to care for 130 elderly residents.
Further fuelling public outrage, Canadian media also revealed that the home’s owner had once been convicted of drug trafficking, fraud and tax evasion.
For families, shock and anger mixed with the frustration of having been powerless to do anything, kept away by a ban on visits to the home to avoid contamination.
Local health authorities have now taken control of the facility, and a multi-million class action has been launched against the owner alleging “inhumane and degrading maltreatment” for failing to ensure continued and adequate care.
“On April 7, my mother was left in her wheelchair with a full, soiled diaper for three hours because no one responded” to the emergency button and her cries for help, Peter Wheeland said, adding that she had diarrhea, one of the symptoms of the new coronavirus.
“We weren’t able to communicate with anyone: We called the nurses’ station, we left messages, we did everything we could do to reach them and there was no answer,” he said.
Connie Wheeland has since been transferred to a hospital where she was diagnosed with Covid-19.
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Poor children, how can someone take advantage of them. So young and innocent. Why is the perpetrator of the abuse not being punished. No mention of that.
“Tusla brought an emergency change of foster placement to the attention of the District Court” – wtf?
Social workers should have absolute power to remove a child from care if they suspect any form of abuse.
I prefer if they got it wrong each time than to leave a single child in danger just once!
@Jim Buckley Barrett: Are you also in favour of separating children from their parents at the US/Mexico border until their identifies are confirmed and the authorities are sure the children aren’t bring trafficked? Genuine question.
@Toomasu Sumitsu: I would be in favour of parents not bringing their children to the US/Mexico border and exposing them to such a volatile situation. However, if authorities have to separate children from parents in order to determine the genuine reasons for travel, then it should be done in accordance with policy.
I recently heard a speaker who is a specialist on trafficking in the EU and was horrified to discover that many young and underage individuals are being brought to Ireland and the UK specifically as sex workers or in forced labor situations. Lack of money, English skills and proper documentation makes them particularly vulnerable.
@Rathminder: Don’t you know being against open borders makes you racist though. Asking for documentation is a racist attack.
@Toomasu Sumitsu:
I don’t think Rathminder was asking for documentation but rather pointing out the *lack* of it makes them vulnerable, which is true, apparent statelessness has a negative impact on just about everything, even healthcare. Unaccompanied minors should automatically be given temporary documentation
@Rathminder: remember that there are men in ireland buying these children. And not one sex buyer of under or over 18 year olds has been convicted. Less than 5 have been arrested over the last year.
I saw this because Ruhama have already jumped on the bandwagon of trying to re-exploit these poor kids for their own, totally unrelated, agenda.
Can we not stop finding such self serving wastes of space and allocate the same money to actually helping people, especially disadvantaged kids, instead?
The only thing I can think of to say about Tusla that is fit for polite company is:
“I TOLD YOU SO”.
Tusla are quite happy to leave children to be abused and neglected when it suits their mates. A certain ex Labour minister for housing would know a lot about this
@Colm Lyons:
That is absolutely true…Tusla are nothing but a highly politicised sick joke that uses the lives of vulnerable children as counters in a long running game of power and ambition.
Vulnerable children in Ireland have absolutely nowhere kind, compassionate, caring and dedicated to their best interests to turn in desperation.
Ireland is not a safe place for these, and many other children. Unfortunately we cannot guarantee their safety. We should be able to do better. Even one child trafficked in this manner is a travesty, if there was ever something worth fighting for surely it’s the prevention of sexual exploitation of small children.
It has to be one of the cruellest ironies that these wee children land on this sad rock and the agencies tasked with helping them use them for self-serving political gain, they produce lovely reports, presentations and tears. The abused are abused again by those tasked with saving them, the only ones who benefit are those making money from them, illegally, from donations or government grants.
It’s time we stopped playing politics and either do our damndest to help these children or don’t, but stop the pretense. Without them, all the other agencies wouldn’t have a reason to exist…
have your say