My father died during COVID-19’s first wave, but he was long suffering in Quebec’s care homes – CBC

We need more accountability, and a universal standard, in the long-term care system

Oct 15, 2021

The system for senior care is broken, and it was broken before the pandemic. Not just public long-term care homes, not just private residences. There is a systematic breakdown in just about every care home in our country.

My father, Stanley Pinnell, was one of 47 residents who died at Résidence Herron in Montreal’s West Island during the pandemic’s first wave. Cause of death: possibly COVID-19, possibly not.

Herron was not the first care home for my father. In April 2016, he was placed in CHSLD Les Floralies LaSalle in Montreal after spending more than a month in hospital. Within five weeks, he was again hospitalized with a severe urinary tract infection, due to improper cleaning of his catheter.

Unable to find out what was going on over the phone, I travelled from Saskatchewan to Montreal in November of that year. Arriving at his care home, I saw that my father’s room, not much bigger than a utility closet, directly faced the noisy dining room, and his bathroom was down the hall.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/first-person-covid-19-senior-care-residence-herron-1.6209015