A doctor who treated residents of a nursing home in the Montreal area where dozens of patients died from COVID-19 says she was concerned about the lack of personnel and personal protective equipment at the facility as infections began to spread. accrue.
Dr. Orly Hermon was one of three physicians who had Residence Herron residents as patients.
Testifying Wednesday in a coroner investigation into the response to the pandemic in nursing homes, she said she was concerned that the facility began reporting positive cases, but was having trouble completing staff rosters and did not have any emergency equipment. personal protection at hand.
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Hermon says the facility in Dorval, Que., Did not have a director of nursing to coordinate the response, and when he approached the local health authority, he was told they were also experiencing a shortage of workers and PPE.
When Herron’s manager fell ill with COVID-19 and the facility owner scrambled to find staff to care for patients, Hermon says he sent an urgent text message to a health authority doctor asking for help.
While Hermon says he was told the health authority would place the facility under fiduciary management starting March 29, the process was actually longer.
Hermon says the facility owner and regional health officials described a lack of coordination and cooperation, which improved after the health authority took over fully, with more staff and managers added in mid-April.
While it became clear after a first case on March 27 that other residents were showing symptoms, widespread testing was only done in mid-April, and only after that were COVID hot spots established to keep those infected separate.
The coroner’s mandate is to investigate 53 deaths in six long-term care homes and one nursing home, including 47 in Herron, during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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