They knew. The minister, the deputy minister, the national director of public health. By the end of January 2020, they knew that CHSLDs were vulnerable. They knew that a new virus, which appeared in China, was likely to wreak havoc there.
“There was a thought like what these circles were going to be affected”, admitted Horacio Arruda, this week, at the inquest of the coroner Géhane Kamel on the deaths in CHSLD. The former Minister of Health Danielle McCann as well as his deputy minister at the time, Yvan Gendron, admitted as much.
They knew. And they did nothing, or at least not enough. “There may be some issues with the management of care settings that should have been there,” said Dr.r Arruda.
Translation: they should have done better.
* * *
Mario Lefebvre did not know.
He would have wanted to know so much. For 20 months now, the Montrealer has been consumed by remorse.
I told you her story, in May 2020. It breaks your heart, like many other stories that took place in this disastrous spring.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE FAMILY
Gilbert Lefebvre, died in March 2020 at the CHSLD de LaSalle
On March 7, 2020, Mario Lefebvre’s father had a bad fall. A cracked rib, Gilbert, 88, ended up in Lakeshore Hospital. After two weeks, he was found a place in rehabilitation at the CHSLD de LaSalle.
Read the column “To have known”
Gilbert didn’t want to go. Mario insisted. For his father’s sake, he believed. “At the Lakeshore Hospital, they could have said to me: ‘There are risks, keep it at home.’ But no. Zero. Everything was beautiful… ”
On March 21, Gilbert was admitted to rehabilitation at the CHSLD de LaSalle. Ten days later he died.
* * *
There needs to be a public inquiry. For Gilbert Lefebvre. And for the 5,200 other Quebecers swept away by COVID-19 in CHSLDs in the province.
We have to get to the bottom of things. Understand what could have happened so that things got out of hand so much. Carry out an autopsy on this terrible disaster.
Coroner’s inquest Kamel lifts part of the veil. But there are still gray areas. Questions without answers. How does the Dr Could Arruda have been in Morocco in February 2020? Why did he wait until March 9 to tell the Prime Minister?
But above all: if the authorities knew, why the hell did they not better prepare the CHSLDs for the wave that would soon engulf them?
* * *
From the start, Mario Lefebvre has been kept in the dark.
He did not know, on March 23, 2020, that a COVID-19 outbreak had been declared at the CHSLD de LaSalle. Two days after his father’s admission. “I was having trouble contacting him. I couldn’t go and see him, I couldn’t go get him. ”
Mario Lefebvre left plenty of messages at the CHSLD. No one called him back. It was the black hole.
On March 28, Mario got a call. At the end of the line, a panic-stricken voice. Gilbert’s: “They don’t take care of me here!” If you love me, come get me! ”
Mario reassured his father. He couldn’t know how true the old man was. How deep in the chaos he was.
* * *
Even after Gilbert’s death, not much was said to his son. It was only by reading my report at the CHSLD de LaSalle, a few weeks later, that Mario Lefebvre realized the extent of the crisis that had hit the establishment.
Read “Five days in the red zone”
The virus had spread to all floors. Some employees had fallen ill, others had fled. Those who remained had been left to fend for themselves, without relief, without equipment.
Without a manager, either. For two weeks, a nurse had taken the lead of the decimated team. And this meager team had practiced bush medicine, cut off from all outside assistance.
Meanwhile, right next door, the LaSalle hospital was preparing for the pandemic. We made room for a possible wave of sick people. We were storing equipment. We even asked the Red Cross to set up a mobile hospital in the neighborhood arena, just in case …
We did all that while the residents of the CHSLD de LaSalle were dropping like flies. By tens. Noiseless.
How could we have been so blind?
* * *
In front of Coroner Kamel, this week, everyone passed the buck. We were not consulted, or we did not listen to the instructions. The directives were ignored, or they were not given …
A public inquiry commission must shed light on this sad debacle.
Some say that there have been and will still be investigations. Cumbersome proceedings at the Charbonneau commission would cost millions and last for years. Better move on.
It would be to forget a little quickly that what we lived, in the spring of 2020, is a national tragedy. A shame, too. The pandemic was more devastating in CHSLDs in Quebec than in retirement homes in other provinces, or even in other countries. You have to understand why.
Finally, everyone has to know. “To do better next time,” says Mario Lefebvre. For Gilbert and all the others. So as not to forget them too quickly.