The story of head nurse Sophie Caron is as revealing as heartbreaking. In a 76-minute recording made by an investigator from the Service de police de la Ville de Montréal (SPVM), the executive of the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’île-de-Montréal showed no control over the CHSLD Herron, when his bosses reassured the government. And among the “abandoned” elders was his own mother.
– Have you ever seen people from CIUSSS on the site?
– No.
The police question was clear and the answer was clear.
Chief nurse Sophie Caron went to the CHSLD Herron on April 7 and 8, 2020, more than a week after CEO from CIUSSSLynne McVey, assured the Legault government in saying the situation was controlled. On March 29, there was virtually no staff left to care for the 154 residents.
We ensure the safety of everyonewrote the CEO, March 29, in a text message to the Assistant Deputy Minister responsible for seniors. But the reality that Sophie Caron has observed is somewhat different.
” It’s desert, desert. “
On April 7, they are five health care workers, he told police, for nearly 150 residents.
His exchange with the investigator, recorded on June 10, 2020, was put into evidence in the coroner’s investigation into the deaths in CHSLD, during the first wave. It has never been brought to public attention until now.
It was a unique opportunity to hear the sentiment of such testimony in this crisis that claimed the lives of 47 seniors, while the coroner’s hearings were not recorded or broadcast.
Before the crisis broke out CHSLD Herron, Sophie Caron is full because she is the head nurse in the COVID intensive care unit at Lakeshore General Hospital.
The beginning of the crisis
He said his mother loved the CHSLD, especially what he ate there. But conditions began to deteriorate from November 2019, including the quality and quantity of food.
Many staff were replaced, some of the new ones did not speak French. It’s starting to smell urine in the hallwayshe says.
His mother no longer felt safe. The girl tries to stabilize him. But, in retrospect, he is right.
Between mid-March and the end of March, he calls his mother every day, as she is no longer allowed to visit him.
It happens that the old woman does not receive her pain medication and her daughter does not talk to anyone at home. CHSLD. One day, it was the opposite, they gave him twice his dose of morphine. The eldest is knocked out within 24 hours.
On March 27, his mother called him crying. I did not eat, he says. The woman is trying to reach someone with CHSLD, but without success. The eldest finally received half a plate, late at night.
On March 28, the old woman received no medicine or food. She rings the bell, no one answers.
” He ate that day and around three o’clock in the afternoon. “
Call for help to do the impossible
On April 6, a doctor from CIUSSSNadine Larente calls her, knowing that her mother is staying at the CHSLD. He had no good news from there.
Dr. asks him for help. Larente in convincing managers to encourage their teams to help Herron.
Ever since CIUSSS has taken over the management of operations, only volunteers are used and this is far inadequate. In the early days, some executives answered the call.
Sophie Caron agrees to assess patients from CHSLDespecially since this was his only chance to see his mother.
On April 7, in the evening, she entered Herron, after her day’s work, with another fellow nurse.
” When we returned, no one at the reception, deserted. It took us six or seven minutes to find someone. And this man in charge that night, he was utterly overwhelmed and overwhelmed. “
The nurse caring for vulnerable seniors was not an employee of Herron, but came from a private employment agency. He was wearing the same protective gear as he moved from one resident to another.
Sophie Caron met an auxiliary nurse, also from an agency, who stepped into Herron for the first time. This woman distributes medicine to seniors without knowing who should receive what.
Sophie Caron is caring for a dying man. He called a doctor who followed Herron’s elders, but this one didn’t really know what to do and agreed to prescribe him. anything.
The chief nurse found that there was no doctor to go to CHSLD for five days. Both arms dropped on me.
Don’t forget to bring death certificatessaid one of the doctors to him on his return the next day. I was excitedhe said to the policewoman.
He recounted the case of a resident who had obviously not drank for a long time. The poor man had such dry skin, dry tongue.
The next morning, April 8, his mother called him: he was positive for COVID-19 and lack of air.
When Sophie Caron came in CHSLDhe saw his mother semi-conscious. It took 20 minutes for him to find a full oxygen tank.but it doesn’t work.
” We looked at each other with the two paramedics and we said to ourselves: “Nonsense. Not in Quebec. Not at home.” “
Paramedics ended up attaching him to their own oxygen bottle. While caring for her mother, the chief nurse saw other patients with similar conditions and even worse.
One man is attached to an empty oxygen tankshe said, before falling into tears, confessing to him incompetence at that moment.
As he let his mother join the paramedics, he didn’t last another 30 minutes. I didn’t do my job until late, I had no energy lefthe blames himself.
The nurse on duty begged to stay so as if they had left.
Her mother died April 16, in the COVID intensive care unit at Lakeshore Hospital, where she worked.
A few days earlier, the catastrophe of CHSLD Herron came to light, in the newspaper The Gazette.
When he returned to CHSLD searching for the deceased’s belongings, on April 17, he found a big change. The establishment is more organized, with staff from CIUSSS even in housekeeping.
the CIUSSS he is said to have done all he could
We did our bestis said of CEO from CIUSSS from the West Island of Montreal, Lynne McVey, the day after the tragedy.
the CIUSSS recognizes that its teams on the site are not sufficient to solve the problems. However, he blames the owners of Herron who, according to him, will not cooperate, which they deny.
” the CIUSSS receives daily, sometimes about 30 minutes before a shift, lists sometimes with only title and number of employees, sometimes the names of employees CHSLD Herron (often just first names) that somehow doesn’t match reality, and that, in fact, very few employees registered on these lists showed up for their shift. “
Another argument of CIUSSS to justify its inability to truly regain control of CHSLD before April 8: in fact, the CIUSSS has no real power of interventionuntil public health issues an ordinance granting special powers.
Ang CEO Lynne McVey actually told the government her difficulties on April 7 in a text message to the Assistant Deputy Minister for Elders: We are still concerned for the safety of the residents […] I will send our status reports to the minister’s office.
To Deputy Minister Yvan Gendron, he even mentioned the idea of calling the police. Except in a subsequent message, he wrote: the situation stabilizes for tonight and tonight.
The government can weave between concern and sedation. One thing is certain: he found out.
Source: Radio-Canada