Authorities have taken over the Herron, which was severely understaffed and where there is now a COVID-19 outbreak.

A privately run seniors’ residence in Dorval that is grappling with an outbreak of COVID-19 has been described as a “concentration camp” — with unfed and soiled elderly residents inside — by health professionals who came to those residents’ rescue, a Montreal Gazette investigation has found.

Although the official COVID-19 death toll at Résidence Herron stood at two on Thursday, a worker said 27 residents have died in the past two weeks. This is highly unusual, as the facility reports an average of four deaths a month, the worker noted.

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Families have also contacted the Gazette to dispute the official tally, saying it does not correspond with the stream of funeral vans they’ve seen leaving the parking lot in the past two weeks, or with what they’ve learned about the situation inside the building on Herron Rd.

It’s possible some residents did not die from COVID-19, but officials with the West Island health authority and the owners of the Herron did not respond to requests for clarification.

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Meanwhile, Health Minister Danielle McCann — reacting to the Gazette article published online earlier Friday — announced an investigation into the Herron. Sources told the Gazette that poorly equipped workers deserted their posts at the Herron on March 29 as a COVID-19 outbreak was flaring up. Later that day, the government placed the residence under trusteeship.

“I was just informed, just before I came to (this) press conference, about what you mentioned,” McCann told the Gazette. “And the CIUSSS (health authority) took charge of this residence a few days ago. And, of course, this is very preoccupying.

“I want to reassure the families about this particular finding, two people that were dead,” McCann added. “I have to make a lot of verifications on this, and I’ll do it quickly.”

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In addition to the Herron, the West Island — which at first was not a government focus in the COVID-19 pandemic — is now beset with at least 117 confirmed cases of the respiratory illness and more than 460 suspected ones in 14 other public and private seniors’ facilities.

On the evening of March 29, authorities descended on the Herron. In addition to the deaths, 20 residents have been quarantined and there are dozens of suspected cases. What has not been reported until now is exactly why the Herron was placed under trusteeship.

A resident of the Herron, which charges its occupants up to $10,000 a month, was feeling unwell two weeks ago and took it upon herself to go to St. Mary’s Hospital in Côte-des-Neiges to be tested for COVID-19, three sources said.

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Pending the results of the test, the woman was deemed well enough to return home that day, in line with government protocols. When the result came back positive, a nurse at St. Mary’s sought in vain to reach the woman at the Herron, even after trying to go through the administration at the residence.

The nurse decided to contact the Montreal public health department to try to find the infected resident. Police also got involved.

When public health officials and police arrived at the Herron, they found no one in the building who was in a position of authority, according to the sources.

“More importantly, the place was described as something akin to a concentration camp,” said a source who agreed to be interviewed on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

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“There were (two) patients who were dead in their beds,” the source added. “Their deaths had not been recognized. There were patients who had fallen on the floor. There were patients who hadn’t had any basic care for a number of days, diapers that hadn’t been changed for three or four days, excrement that was covering their skin and patients who hadn’t been fed.

“Their whole second floor was infested with COVID,” the source continued. “It was a hot floor. And there were just two orderlies for the entire (134-bed) institution.”

Nurses discovered some patients were so dehydrated, their mouths so dry, they were unable to speak at first, the sources said. One patient was triple-diapered with feces seeping out. There are concerns some records on medications may have been falsified.

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Before the pandemic struck, there were more orderlies at the Herron, but they lacked personal protective equipment (PPEs), the sources explained.

Samir Emilie Chowieri — president of Katasa Groupe, which is in charge of the Herron — was unavailable for comment on Friday, said his wife, who was informed of the description of the Dorval facility as a concentration camp.

Katherine Chowieri, a spokesperson for Katasa Groupe, told City News on Wednesday that “it is obvious that we are experiencing some difficulty staffing during these unprecedented times. We are trying our best to keep our staff protected during their work shifts and paying them bonuses.

“No matter the amount of staff on the floor, we always assure that services are given to our residents and that they are fed, but it may take longer than usual to assist,” she added.

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After the discovery at the Herron, a physician pulled her own mother out of the residence, the sources said.

“My concern is that there are still people there who will now get better care than they did before, but families had no idea what was going on,” the source said. “And if they knew, maybe, maybe they would want to get their loved ones out of there.”

Peter Wheeland, whose 87-year-old mother Connie Wheeland (neé Curtis) has been living at the Herron, said he couldn’t get through to the residence to find out whether she has been tested for COVID-19.

“The CIUSSS took over two weeks ago, and I’m sorry, they haven’t been any better at communicating with families,” Wheeland said. “They’re not telling us f— all. We should have known about all of these things.”

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The emergency phone line to the residence automatically switches to voice mail, which is full. On Friday afternoon, the Gazette put Wheeland in touch with a worker who had been taking care of his mother and who reassured him that she was doing well.

McCann vowed earlier this week that all health staff at nursing homes would answer the calls of families, after numerous complaints that they were being kept in the dark. On Friday night, the Wheeland family sent an ambulance to the Herron to remove their mother.

Wheeland’s 85-year-old father, Ken, had been living at the Herron, too. He was transferred on March 17 to the publicly run LaSalle CHSLD after the Herron wanted to hike his monthly rent by 50 per cent to $5,000 to take care of his increasing needs, Wheeland said.

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Ken Wheeland died from COVID-19 last Saturday at the LaSalle residence, but it’s not clear whether he contracted it there or at the Herron.

A worker at the Herron, who declined to be identified for fear of professional reprisals, accused the West Island health authority of mismanaging the situation, saying workers had been warning the government about a lack of PPEs for more than a week.

However, the worker acknowledged the remaining staff on March 29 abandoned the Herron.

“Yes, we admit it,” the worker said.

“You had some staff that were afraid of going in because we didn’t have the protective gear,” the worker added. “They were afraid for their own families.

“Yes, it was a bad day on Sunday.”

The first COVID-19 case at the Herron was confirmed on March 27. The next day, there were two more positive cases. At least three workers got infected, too, and others were sent home for self-isolation, depleting the already low staffing levels.

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Before the first case was declared, the Herron kept its dining room open and the staff did not wear masks, the worker conceded.

Officials with the West Island authority released a statement late Friday insisting that “as soon as we became aware of cases of COVID-19 at the CHSLD Herron, CIUSSS Ouest-de-l’Île-de-Montréal intervened.”

“Given the situation at the CHSLD, we asked the ministry of health and social services for the authority to place the residence under our management,” the statement continued. “We understand that the situation is stressful for the residents and their families. Our priority is to provide them with appropriate care and services.”

The CIUSSS has sent nursing reinforcements from St. Mary’s. Many of those nurses are outraged at what occurred at the Herron and want to help, sources said.

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The Herron is among 15 public and private seniors’ institutions on the West Island that have been hit hard by COVID-19.

The worst official outbreak has occurred in the 202-bed Centre d’hébergement de LaSalle, where 20 people have died, 22 other infected residents have been quarantined and where there are 54 suspected cases, according to an internal government document circulated on Thursday.

Across the street, the long-term care unit at LaSalle Hospital has reported 14 deaths, 25 confirmed cases and 77 suspected ones.

On Monday, a refrigerated truck was spotted outside LaSalle Hospital, but officials from the West Island authority did not reply immediately to queries on whether it was being used to store bodies — a last-resort practice at some hospitals in New York City.

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It took the West Island CIUSSS five days to confirm the use of the refrigerated truck.

“Like other CIUSSSes in Quebec, the West Island CIUSSS has proactively planned a temporary morgue,” spokesperson Ariadne Bourbonnière responded in an email Friday.

“If the sombre prognosis of a very high number of deaths were to materialize, the CIUSSS could thus treat the remains in a manner as dignified as possible until funeral homes could take care of them.”

Lynne McVey, the top official at the West Island authority, emphasized in an internal memo that the two neighbouring facilities in LaSalle are among her top priorities.

“Our hot zones are the CHSLD LaSalle, the two dedicated floors in LaSalle Hospital, CHSLD Nazaire-Piché (in Lachine) and Résidence Herron,” McVey wrote in the memo.

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“I was at LaSalle Hospital, where I spent the day with our teams there and at CHSLD LaSalle across the street, to gather information on how we can provide additional support. We have already begun redirecting our most senior managers to these locations.”

The documents obtained by the Gazette contain a data point that the government has not yet made public regarding the COVID-19 crisis in seniors’ residences and long-term care centres: the number of suspected cases.

For example, although Nazaire-Piché has reported one death, it has 12 confirmed cases and 87 suspected ones. To date, 29 residents have been quarantined there.

The documents also reveal that the situation in the West Island’s privately run nursing homes and seniors’ residences is in some ways much worse than in the public sector.

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For example, the number of residents in the private facilities who have been quarantined stood at 260 on Thursday, compared with 55 in public institutions. What’s more, authorities have been tracking the cases in the private centres since April 5, compared with March 25 in the public ones.

The internal documents show that there have been far fewer COVID-19 infections in the hospitals managed by the West Island authority than in the seniors’ residences, underscoring how the government initially may have miscalculated the potential impact of the pandemic in long-term care centres.

The West Island authority reported on Thursday that there were two COVID-19 hospitalizations at St. Mary’s, 16 at the Lakeshore General Hospital in Pointe-Claire and six at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute in Verdun. No deaths were reported in those hospitals, compared with 49 deaths in public and private CHSLDs and seniors’ residences on the West Island.

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Jesse Feith of the Montreal Gazette contributed to this report.