Ministers Danielle McCann and Marguerite Blais were not only advised of the seriousness of the situation at CHSLD Herron on March 29, 2020: that day, the Deputy Minister of Mme McCann ordered the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal to take matters into their own hands, noting “the urgency to act”.
Under oath at the coroner’s public inquiry into deaths in CHSLDs in January, the minister responsible for seniors, Ms.me Blais, said he “really learned what was going on at CHSLD Herron [le 10 avril]per newspaper article » The Gazette, which then reported 27 deaths in two weeks.
On April 11, the Prime Minister, François Legault, affirmed that the CIUSSS had “decided to visit the establishment” on March 29.
However, in fact, the order came from his government. It was former Deputy Minister of Health Yvan Gendron who instructed the CIUSSS to take control of the CHSLD Herron on March 29 at 8:23 p.m. A few minutes earlier, at 7:51 p.m., Mr. Gendron received a text message from CIUSSS President and CEO, Lynne McVey, asking him to put the establishment under “supervision” and to “take charge of its staffing”, we read in the documents filed in evidence at the Court. coroner’s public inquest.
” To me, […] the reason for the guardianship is the urgency to act to ensure that people are washed, are fed, are safe,” said Mr. Gendron during its passage in front of the coroner on November 17.
The majority of deaths that occurred at the CHSLD Herron ultimately took place while the establishment was under the responsibility of the CIUSSS. In total, the facility experienced 38 deaths between March 26 and April 16, 2020. “The darkest period of this tragedy is between April 5 and April 10, when 23 residents will die,” it read in June. 2020 in the CHSLD Herron investigation report commissioned by the government.
Blais and McCann advised
Before the coroner, Mr. Gendron assured that he had informed Mr.me Blais of the trusteeship of the CHSLD Herron as of March 29. He said his assistant deputy minister had spoken with the minister’s chief of staff, “to make sure she [ait] all the information”.
The Minister of Health at the time, Danielle McCann, was informed the same day, she herself attested during her appearance before the coroner on November 18. “On March 29, you are informed that there is a personnel problem, that the CIUSSS is taking control, that they are sending personnel? asked lawyer Patrick Martin-Ménard, who represents the families of deceased persons at the CHSLD Herron. “Yes,” she replied.
Still at the coroner’s inquest, Mr. Gendron explained that the seriousness of the situation at the CHSLD Herron in his opinion required action on the part of the government, despite the legal problems that an intervention in a private establishment could have bring to the government.
“On March 29, we were really on the situation, all the food, the hygiene problems, the staff, the general manager who had left, possibly infected,” he explained, saying he was worried. for the “dignity” of the residents. People, he said, were “in deficit of everything”, and “that’s why I said: it doesn’t matter, it’s a trusteeship. You take charge of the organization, if they want to sue us afterwards, it doesn’t matter”.
Seniors and Caregivers Branch Assistant Deputy Minister Natalie Rosebush confirmed her version of events. A formal notice to the CHSLD Herron and a letter announcing their trusteeship also state that the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal was “entrusted by the Minister of Health and Social Services responsible for ensuring the safety of all residents of private CHSLDs on [son] territory”.
“Under control”, but fragile
Once the trusteeship was established, the government received a series of “status reports” about the CHSLD Herron. On April 7, Lynne McVey notably wrote to Mr. Gendron that the establishment was “still at risk”. “The situation is stabilizing for tonight and tonight,” she nevertheless added, not without mentioning that she feared “having to call the police”.
In a statement sent to Homework Tuesday, the CIUSSS de l’Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal recalled that it considered that the situation was “under control” on the night of March 29 to 30. In the following days, however, “access to information and equipment critical to the well-being of residents [s’est révélé] difficult “.
In turn, the Prime Minister, elected officials and deputy ministers said they did not know that there were 31 deaths at CHSLD Herron before April 10. They said they were reassured by the CIUSSS. “We were told: ‘We take care of it, we take care of that,'” Prime Minister Legault said on Wednesday.
His cabinet also reminded the Homework Wednesday that “at the time, we did not know about the virus, and we were in crisis management like never before”. “It’s easy after two years to come and judge the actions that have been taken and to say those that should have been done,” said press officer Ewan Sauves.
With Francois Carabin