MONTREAL -- A damning report on a Laval long-term care facility that has seen one of the highest death tolls of Quebec's COVID-19 crisis is calling into question the working conditions of those on the frontlines.
The CHSLD in Ste-Dorothee became infamous as a symbol of the pandemic's devastation among elder-care facilities when more than 150 residents tested positive earlier this month.
Nurse Sylvie Morin said of the 35 patients on her floor, 33 have tested positive for COVID-19.
“It's really depressing. The deaths continue to pile up,” she said. “Today, I had one person that died.”
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A health and safety report, which was filed by Quebec's worker safety board and obtained by CTV News, stated union representatives sent in numerous statements describing dangerous work conditions.
Workers at the CHSLD said they were forced to continue working, even when displaying COVID-19 symptoms. The report states that anyone who tried to legally refuse to treat a patient without protection faced intimidation and threats. Personnel were forced to perform medical tasks such as placing CPAP machines in the facilities 'hot zone' while wearing simple surgical masks, rather than the recommended N95s.
The report also says essential measures used to prevent the spread of the virus were instituted too late.
“It was a nurse who was having symptoms, she begged our superior to go get tested,” said Morin. “She said 'No, you have to stay at work.' At the end of her shift, she went and she was positive.”
After the report was issued on April 12, Morin said the lapses were corrected, but the facility had already been identified as one of six long-term care centres responsible for one-third of Quebec's COVID-related deaths.
The staff at Ste-Dorothee aren't alone in fighting for tests.
Oren Sebag, a healthcare worker who volunteered to help staff the province's overtaxed senior care facilities, said he's now isolated away from his family after coming into contact with a colleague at Hotel Dieu Hospital who tested positive.
He said instead of getting a test result, he was forced to sit at home in self-isolation.
“If I can get some sort of relief and get tested, if I'm negative, I'll be back there this weekend,” he said.
Health Minister Danielle McCann said tests for workers like Sebag aren't likely to come.
“People have to be asymptomatic to go back to work,” she said.
Morin said without testing, nurses are worried they could still be spreading the virus.
“My mom is living here for three years, she has Alzheimer's. I don't want to lose her, but I don't think she'll make it,” she said. “She's negative but I'm seeing how fast it goes and all the patients we're losing.”
