At least one well-known long-term care home in Sudbury is named in the series of class action lawsuits connected with the Pugliese v. Chartwell action that was launched in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, last week.
St. Joseph’s Health Centre of Sudbury is one of hundreds of long-term care homes named as a defendant by scores of plaintiffs in the cases. There are other companies named at the corporate level that have affiliated properties in the North, but St. Joseph’s was the only one named for Sudbury.
The numerous class action suits were filed on behalf of clients, family members and even visitors alleging that during the COVID-19 pandemic, various long-term care companies were ill-equipped and poorly prepared to look after the health of residents and their visitors, some being family members.
Court documents stated the "proposed class actions are all brought by the estates of persons who died of COVID-19 or by individuals who were infected with COVID-19 in long term care (“LTC”) homes in Ontario during the pandemic."
Although hundreds of long-term care homes across Ontario are listed as defendants, the only listing for a local facility as a defendant is Sudbury's St. Joseph’s Health Centre.
St. Joseph’s Health Centre is the oversight body of two 128-bed long-term care homes in Greater Sudbury: St. Joseph’s Villa on South Bay Road and Villa St. Gabriel’s Villa in Chelmsford. It also operates St. Joseph’s Continuing Care Centre, which operates in two sites, a 64-bed rehabilitative care centre on South Bay Road, and a 60-bed unit at the Clarion site on Elm Street in Sudbury.
Court documents filed by the plaintiffs noted that most LTC homes were in a position to recognize the dangers of the coming pandemic but failed to do so.
The documents said that as hundreds of LTC residents were sick and dying, there were instances where Canadian Forces military teams were called to intervene in some homes. That eventually resulted in a harshly critical report by the Canadian Forces on the poor living conditions in many homes.
