Many problems mentioned in the reports stemmed from similar roots in each home: understaffing, a lack of protective gear, confusion about how to counter the contagion
People place a sign translating to 'Protect our Seniors' outside Maison Herron, a long-term care home in the Montreal suburb of Dorval, on April 12, 2020.The protective equipment was lacking or hard to access. Physical distancing wasn’t maintained. There wasn’t enough staff so quarantined areas couldn’t be maintained or potentially infected employees had to keep working.
The inspection reports show that, at the level of individual homes, circumstances were more challenging than how they were portrayed by officials in the government’s daily briefings. At the Vigi Dollard-des-Ormeaux home, in Montreal’s West Island, a lack of staff made it impossible to assign nurses to work solely with infected residents. On some shifts, for example at night or during weekends, there was only one nurse for the entire facility, according to the inspection report.
The document said a Vigi manager, Juliana D’Onofrio, blamed the local health authority for the lack of personal protective equipment . The report also said there were no N95 respirator masks during aerosol-generating medical procedures – and in any case the staff hadn’t done tests to make sure such respirators fit them properly.
After 78 people were infected in early April, officials tested all Laflèche residents and personnel and uncovered more than 30 asymptomatic cases.
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