MONTREAL — The Quebec government is looking for reinforcements in its fight against COVID-19 in the province's understaffed long-term care homes.
Premier Francois Legault said Tuesday the province will look to medical specialists and health sciences instructors to help long-term care homes that were already dealing with a lack of personnel before the epidemic.
The move came as Quebec saw its biggest one-day jump in the number of COVID-19 deaths, rising by 75 to reach a total of 435. The province says nearly half of deaths are tied to seniors residences.
The government has been redeploying hospital employees to long-term care, but the facilities remain short of staff. So the premier has put the call out to anyone with relevant training to help if they can.
Legault drew inspiration from the story of Dr. Nadine Larente, director of professional services for the health authority serving western Montreal. In an exclusive interview with La Presse, Larente recalled being the first health-care official to arrive at Residence Herron, a long-term care facility in Dorval, Que. where 31 people have died in less than a month.
She described treating patients while enlisting her husband and three children — ages 13, 15, 17 — to distribute meals and talk to elderly residents.
"You know, when dramas happen, there are always people who stand out for exceptional humanity," Legault said. "Obviously, this is the kind of situation that we cannot imagine in 2020 in Quebec. But what bravery, what humanity ... on the part of Dr. Larente, her children and her husband."
Legault said he is hoping for more people to step up.
At least 1,250 orderlies and attendants working in the homes either have COVID-19 or are unwilling to work for fear of being infected, officials said.
"I'm asking everybody available, every health worker to come forward and help us," Legault said. "I appeal to your sense of duty to help us protect the most vulnerable."
The province also announced it will relax rules on outside caregivers, who have been barred from entering the residences since the pandemic hit. About 10 per cent of residents had caregivers coming to visit them regularly before the March 13 shutdown.
Dr. Horacio Arruda, Quebec's director of public health, said under measures to take effect Thursday, caregivers will have to be identified by management as having done the job previously, they will have to test negative for COVID-19 and follow hygiene measures. They will also sign a consent form so they understand what they could be exposed to.
Arruda explained the situation in hospitals and intensive care wards would have been far worse now had health authorities not decided to cut off all visits.
But he noted what wasn't known at the beginning of the epidemic was that asymptomatic people could spread the virus — which likely contributed to contamination in elder care homes filled with vulnerable residents, a phenomenon consistent with other jurisdictions.
Family members will still not be permitted to visit their loved ones.
"This is really tragic, it's a human tragedy, what's happening right now," said Health Minister Danielle McCann. "It's very difficult for the families, and it's very difficult for the staff. We're losing some people that are very dear to us, and we won't stop at anything to really, really protect them."
There are 14,247 confirmed coronavirus cases in the province, with 936 people requiring hospitalization. Officials say 230 are in intensive care.
Legault said the province has completed a cursory look at all 2,600 residences and long-term care homes — both private and public — across the province and identified 41 as needing special attention because of the high number of cases.
Over the weekend, the province carried out inspections of 40 private establishments after learning that 31 residents died in a three-week period at a single home in Dorval, an on-island suburb in western Montreal, without the province's knowledge.
The province said Tuesday it would begin publishing a list of residences where the situation is under surveillance.
LaSalle Hospital — a facility in southwestern Montreal — will set up a unit to treat seniors' home residents stricken with COVID-19.
The facility with room for 15 to 25 patients expects to begin receiving patients next week, and will care for the sickest patients from long-term care homes to ensure they have the best chance at recovery.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 14, 2020.
Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press
